


I'm not gonna give up on you

by MGstars



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Minor Violence, Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-08 05:58:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 39,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13451982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MGstars/pseuds/MGstars
Summary: Starts when Regina leaves the diner in 401. S4 as we know never happened, the Ice Queen and Elsa were never in Storybrooke, but some other facts might reveal to be similar to the show. But in other circumstances, how will they change the story?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is the first multichapter I ever wrote about OUAT. It has been complete for years, but since I’m moving my work from fanfiction.net to here, I’ll need time and will post one chapter at a time whenever I find time.  
> If you’re discovering this story, I prefer to warn you that this won’t be an easy journey for our favorite characters, but I hope you'll stick with me until the end.  
> I mostly wrote from Henry, Robin, or Regina's POV, but as you will see in this chapter, sometimes I use another character.  
> Also, English is not my main language, and if I’m editing the chapters to correct as many things as I can by myself (sorry Milly, you claim it’s more than understandable but some of my old mistakes make me cringe XD), there _will_ be mistakes and I apologize for them.  
>  Disclaimer: I own nothing but the idea. The characters and Storybrooke belong to A&E.  
> With that, I hope you'll enjoy it!

 

“She's a monster!”

Regina restrains herself when she realizes she's about to lose her temper. She straightens her spine and turns on her heels, leaving the Charmings, her son, Hook, Roland, Robin and his  _wife_  behind.

Why bother justifying anyway? She _is_ and will _always_ be the Evil Queen. No matter how hard she tries, there will always be something or someone to remind her of that. She thought redemption would give her a chance to be happy, a chance at grace, a chance at love. She tried very hard to build a future, and now it's all gone.

She ignores what Robin will decide. She probably already knows, deep down, because really, who would be fool enough to choose her when they have someone else to turn to? As she tries to persuade herself of that, she can’t completely suppress that sparkle of hope, instilled in her mind, screaming at her that maybe, just _maybe_ , one day, someone would fight for her.

But right now, pain and hurt are overcoming this feeling. Hope is forgotten, because until now, it has always failed her and never led to anything else than misery and distress.

So she walks, walks faster, hurries to put as much distance between her and them as she can. When she reaches her house, her hands are shaking and she almost drops her keys while trying to open the door. Once she finally succeeds, she enters her house, and closes the door behind her.

Yes. Why bother indeed?

XXX

The next day

Robin stares at the door for several minutes. He knows what he has to do. He knows what _must_ be done. It doesn't feel right, but he has no choice. He's married, and no matter how he feels towards Regina, staying with his wife is the honorable thing to do. It feels like a lifetime ago, but he made a vow to Marian and he's going to keep it. He thought about it all night, while his wife was laying next to him in bed, while the diner’s scene playing over and over in his mind. He's stuck in an impossible situation, and the only right thing is to do what he always did: to follow his code.

He takes a deep breath, lifts his hand, and knocks. Once. And then waits.

Waits.

Waits.

He knocks again, louder, ends up calling _her_ name.

When no one answers, Robin frowns. It's the middle of the day, Regina should be at her office.

He turns on his heels to leave, but freezes, pushed by an invisible force. He goes back to the door, and this time tries to open it. He's surprised to find the door swinging open easily. _It wasn't locked_ , he realizes. That’s weird… Regina is usually pretty cautious about those things. Slowly, Robin steps inside, carefully, and looks around.

The place is empty. He hoped she'd be here, but she's not. Maybe she fled, poofed herself someplace else when she heard him get in. But when he looks more attentively, there's no trace of her belongings, and magic or not, there’s no way she had time to clean the place from her stuff before he entered the room. The desk is perfectly in order, there's no coat on her chair, no book or paper anywhere. No sign of life. No sign of her.

His eyes wander in the room, land on the couch, the fireplace, the coffee table. He remembers yesterday, their picnic, their confessions. He had never imagined that on the very day he opened up to Regina about Marian's death, he would actually hold her against him. He had never imagined his life would fall apart in one second, and that he would be torn between two women, forced to make a choice.

Robin shakes the memory away, unshed tears in his eyes, and turns to leave. The whole place smells like her, he realizes. It  _feels_  like her. And he misses her so much already he wonders how he'll be able to look her in the eyes and break the heart she so willingly gave him.

He sighs, a surge of guilt hitting him when he realizes his intrusion, so he heads toward the exit, closing the door behind him.

He decides then to try her home. If she's not at her office, maybe she's there.

He stares at the mansion in front of him, his breath caught in his throat. He can do this! He _has_ to do this! He has to give her up even though she doesn't deserve it. He has to stay true to his vows to Marian. So he steps forward, knocks once, twice, uses the ring bell, calls for _her_ again. He tries to spy something through the windows, a frame, a shadow, something that will tell him she's inside and just hiding from him. But there's nothing.

He goes to her vault too. He's never been there before, so he walks carefully, makes sure not to touch anything. But the place is empty, just like the others.

 _She must be hiding_ , he thinks. Hiding from _him_. But he has to talk to her. So, he'll try again. He'll give her a few days. A week, he decides.

In a week, he'll come back.

Defeated, but somehow relieved that he didn't have to confront her, not yet at least, Robin walks back to the camp, to Roland, to _Marian_. He walks back to his family, head down, because they are his life now. However, he can’t get rid of this strange feeling weighing upon his chest, and telling him that something in this whole situation, is out of place.

XXX

Emma turns to her son, frowning as she sees him fill a basket with food and DVD. She walks closer, enumerating “Okay, chocolate, DVD's, ice-cream...” she pauses and raises an eyebrow as Henry looks up at her and something she didn't see before enters her sight “Red wine? That's one heck of a late-night snack, kid.”

“It's for my mom.” he answers right away. Emma forces herself not to smile, touched by the gesture.

“I don't drink, and sheriff.” she reminds, a hand clasping his shoulder.

“My other mom.”

_Oh!_

“I googled 'how to get over a break-up'. It didn't talk about your boyfriend's wife time-travelling back from the past but, close enough?” he asks, the hope in his voice contrasting with the sadness in his brown eyes.

Emma feels pride warm her heart at the idea that her son cares enough to take care of his parents, even in moments when he shouldn't, and about situations he somehow is too young to fully understand.

But guilt washes over her too, because she's the reason he's doing this. She's the cause of Regina's pain. She hurt someone and though she knows she obviously couldn't let an innocent woman die, she's responsible for causing more damages than she wanted to avoid when she rescued Marian.

“That's really sweet.” Emma says, leaning forward to squeeze Henry's shoulder. “Do you want me to drive you there?”

“You don't mind?”

“No, of course not! Come on, grab your coat!”

She helps him hold the heavy basket, informs her parents that she won't be long, and follows her son through the door.

She parks in front of Regina's mansion, lets Henry step out of the car.

“Thanks, mom. I'll call you tomorrow morning.”

“Okay. Take a good care of her, I'm sure she'll appreciate what you're doing.”

She waves Henry goodbye, and starts her car. That's when she notices it. She looks around, but still, it's not here. She turns to Henry, and realizes that he's still at the door, knocking and calling again and again. She turns off the car, walks out of it and enters the yard.

“Hey kid!” she calls, Henry turning to face her.

“She's not answering.”

“Her car is not here. Maybe she's not home.” she shrugs.

“Maybe. But can I call her? I want to know if she's okay.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Emma shoves her phone out of her pocket, and hands it to Henry. He dials the number, and waits.

Voicemail.

He tries again. Same result. He leaves a message, tells her to call him back, and hangs up, clearly disappointed, and maybe a bit worried.

Emma waves an arm around his shoulder, and leads him back to the car.

“She probably needs to be alone for a while. Give her some time, she'll come around.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter. I hope you'll like it. Do not hesitate to share your opinion with me.  
> Again, sorry for the mistakes.

Three days, and still no answer. She didn’t call him back, didn’t leave a message. No one has seen her since the fateful night of Marian’s return. So Henry starts to worry, _really_ worry. He paces in his grandparents’ living-room, leaving another message on her voicemail, half-angry, half-anxious.

He tried every place where she could have been.

He checked her vault, called the hospital, went back to their house four time to face a closed door each time, stayed at her office for hours -he was surprised to find the door unlocked and the set of key on the desk, but it doesn’t really mean anything, right ?-, even asked Grannys, when his mother suggested that maybe Regina was renting a room there in secret.

Still nothing.

Mary-Margaret tells him the same thing Emma does.  
  
Regina needs time. She needs to regroup, to recover from what happened, and she's very good at covering her tracks –his grandmother mentions that time when they all thought she killed Archie and no one was able to find her for days-. She'll call him sooner than he thinks, she assured.

But he's not convinced. Something is _wrong_. Something is _definitely_ wrong. His mother wouldn't let him clueless about her whereabouts. She wouldn't let him worry sick about her. So he calls Emma, tells her to meet him at Regina's mansion. He wants to get inside this time. He wants to make sure his mother isn’t not half-dead somewhere in the house, because this thought keeps coming back at him more and more frequently. He _has_ to know where she is.

So here they are, half an hour later. Henry, Emma, Mary-Margaret, Charming and Hook.

Emma manages to open the door, and they walk inside. It's dark, cold, as if no one has been here for a while. They split up, and Henry rushes towards the stairs, storms inside her bedchamber, and stops, takes a look around.

It's empty.

Seems like no one has come here recently.

Aside from the furniture, nothing indicates that his mother is here. Her favorite book is _not_ on the nightstand next to her bed. Her robe is _not_ hanging behind the door. Her favorite scarf is _not_ on the armchair next the fireplace. The flowers on the shelf next the window are long dead. This feels like a hotel bedroom, like no one lives here.

He heads to the closet, opens it, and frowns. It’s empty.

He opens another one. Same result.

The dresser.

The bathroom.

The nightstand.

Henry's turning everything upside down, and the noise he's making alarms his family. Charming is the first one to join him. He understands quickly the reason of Henry's behavior, and walks to his grandson, puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him before he tosses an empty drawer on the floor angrily.

“Why aren’t any of her stuff here?” he cries out, turning to face his grandfather.

“Henry.” Mary-Margaret's soft voice calls.

The boy turns to her. She's next to the bed, and holds a paper in her hand. _A letter_ , he realizes. He was so obsessed with finding a proof of his mother's presence, he didn't even notice it. His grandmother is reading it, and when he walks to her and she hands him the note, he reads compassion and sadness in her eyes.

His brow furrows in question, anxiety settling in his belly as he takes the letter and starts reading it, his world falling apart with every word.

 

_Henry,_

_I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye._

_After what happened at the diner, after Marian's return, I just realized how right she was. I am a monster. No matter how hard I try, I will never be worthy of you or anyone else. I shouldn't have hoped for a happy ending, it was nothing but a sweet dream._

_As you may have noticed, I took my belongings with me, and left my office's keys on the desk. By the time you get that letter, I'll be gone. I’ll have crossed the town line and disappeared from everyone's lives, to start a new one, where no one knows me or what I've done. Things are better this way. You deserve so much better than me._

_I love you, Henry._

_Mom._

 

By the time he's done reading, he’s sitting at the edge of the bed, shocked.

This can't be right. He checked on her barely twenty-four hours after Marian's return. She couldn't take this life-changing decision in one night. She wouldn't stay deaf to his calls when he knocked on the door begging her to let him in. She wouldn't give up so easily. And more importantly, his mother would never leave without a goodbye. She would never leave _him_ , period.

He creases the paper in a ball he throws across the bedroom, and rushes outside, avoiding Emma's hand trying to stop him when he walks past her and Hook.

There are tears in his eyes, hot, heavy tears that threaten to fall at any time.

He does not believe it.

 _Can't_ believe it.

It may have been her handwriting, but it wasn't her words. She changed! His mother truly, deeply, really _changed_! She had started believing in herself. She defeated her sister with light magic, things were better between them, she'd found love again. She was _happy_. She wouldn't run away from all of that. She wouldn't be so pessimistic about her life. Not now. Not anymore. Not when she's come that far.

Henry knows his mother is still in town, somewhere, hiding. Maybe she's in danger, he thinks. But they vanquished Zelena, the portal is closed, there is no more threat anymore.

And then it hits him.

 _Marian_.

And Robin.

His mother's and grandfather's voices are calling him from the house, but he ignores them, walks faster, runs, sprints towards the forest. It's a long run, almost three miles, but he doesn't care. His lungs are burning, his breath is stuck in his throat, but he doesn't stop, barely notices the car that almost run into him as he crosses the road without looking. He runs, and runs again, until he sees it.

The camp.

He slows down his pace, walks again, catching his breath as he comes closer.

He looks around him, and spots Roland not far from him. And then...  _Bingo_!

He walks a determined pace towards Robin, and stops just next to him. The man's eyes catch his presence, and he gives him a small smile, because he must have noticed Henry's upset face and knows this is not a courtesy visit. But Henry doesn’t give him a chance to do something about it.

“What have you done to my mom?” He asks harshly, not even bothering with a hello.

Robin is taken aback, frowns in surprise. “Nothing.” he simply answers.

“She wrote a letter saying she left town. But she didn't say goodbye to me, or to anyone else. And I know her, there's no way she would just walk away from me. So I'll ask again : What did you do to her?”

The boy almost yells, doesn't even realize Robin's panicked eyes.

“She left? Henry I... I didn't know. Why did she-”

“Stop lying!” Henry screams, for real this time, brow furrowed with anger, hands clenched into fists. “She was perfectly fine until three days ago. And then she left the diner and no one has seen her since. The only explanation is that you did or said something to her. I know my mom. She wouldn't give up so easily, and especially, she wouldn't leave me beh-”

“Henry, I haven't seen her since that night at the diner!” Robin cuts him off.

Henry's eyes widen, taken aback. “What?”

“I tried to talk to her the day following Marian’s return, but I couldn't find your mom.”

The boy frowns, staring at the ground, scratching his scalp while thinking deeply.

“So... If you haven't talk to her and no one has seen her, where is she?”

Robin sighs, heart heavy from what he's about to say, about to admit. “Maybe... Maybe she did leave town.” He attempts warily.

Henry's head snaps back up at him, the hard look back.

“She would never do that to _me_! Something must have happened to her.”

“Something happened to who?” comes a small voice.

Both men turn to the person walking slowly in their direction. Marian stops next to Robin, clutching to his arm softly. Henry can't help but look elsewhere, wincing at the sight.

When Robin notices his discomfort, he doesn't let it show. The boy will have to get use to it, he thinks sadly.

“Regina left town.” Robin explains calmly, remembering his wife’s question.

“Oh.” she simply replies. Then “That's good news.”

The glare Henry sends Marian reminds Robin of those Evil Queen's looks Regina used against her sister -or sometimes even him- in the Enchanted Forest. Right now, he's glad the boy doesn't have magic, for he surely would have turned his wife into ashes in an instant.

“Do not ever speak like that of my mother!” Henry threatens, stepping forward in a threatening way. Robin raises an arm to stop him from coming closer. “You don't know her!” Henry spits. “Everything was perfectly fine until _you_ showed up and insulted her. You shouldn't be here. You're supposed to be _dead_!” he scolds.

 _“Henry_!”

The kid freezes at his mother's voice. He turns slowly to find Emma, Charming and Hook running towards him, breathless.

“What's happening here?” Charming asks firmly, but with a quiet tone.

No one answers, and Robin knows pretty well that repeating the conversation wouldn't do anyone any good.

“Henry was asking us if we saw Regina the last few days.” he says simply, clearing his throat. He notices how the boy's features relax slightly, and his wife's hold on him loosens.

“Did you?” Emma asks.

“I'm afraid I didn’t. I wanted to have a talk with her but I never found her.”

Emma strolls towards Henry, grabs his shoulder but he jerks back, and heads stubbornly back from where he came without another word.

He hears his grandfather thank Robin and Marian, and then there are footsteps catching up with him, and a hand closing around his arm. This time, Emma doesn't let go and forces him to face her, bending slightly to be at eye-level with him.

“What was that?” she scowls.

“Nothing.” He tries to walk away but she doesn't let him.

“Henry, _what was that_?” she asks again, louder this time. “And don't tell me ‘nothing’, because something was definitely happening there!”

Henry stops fighting, stares down, then up at his mother, catching his grandfather and Killian's frames behind her, silently looks at them. “She said it was a good think my mom left.”

Emma's features soften, and she brings her son to her chest. This time, he doesn't push her away.

“Henry, I'm sorry. But try to understand Marian. She never met your mother, only the Evil Queen. I rescued her from her dungeon four days ago. She doesn't know about all the good Regina did, about the person she's become.” She recedes to look him in the eyes, and notices tears he won't let fall down. “I promise you, Henry. If Regina is anywhere outside Storybrooke, I will find her.”


	3. Chapter 3

It's been a month. A month, and nothing.

His mom keeps telling him she hasn't given up searching for Regina, but Henry knows she's lost faith in her search. He heard her one night with Killian and his grandparents, when they thought he was asleep.

 

_Two days before_

_“Are you sure you searched everywhere, Emma?” Mary-Margaret says, a bit worried._

_“Mom...” Emma sighs. “I know my job. If I haven't found her yet, then I won't. There's no record of her._ Anywhere _! The few women I heard about who matched the description weren’t Regina. She doesn't want to be found. I'll keep looking, for Henry, but at some point I’ll have to tell him this search is vain.”_

_“But what if Henry is right?”_

_Three pair of eyes turn to look at the brunette in surprise._

_“What if she's still in Storybrooke?”_

_“You mean, she would lead us to a wild goose chase while she's planning something behind our back?”_

_Mary-Margaret sends her husband a cold glare. “After everything she did for us, you still don't believe in her, do you? You still see her as evil”?”_

_It's barely a question, more a statement, and David sighs loudly, bowing his head guiltily._

_“Well, I refuse to believe that she would turn back to being evil again.” she resumes firmly, looking at her daughter. “What if something did happen to her? She could be in danger right now, and we're not even looking for her.”_

_“Mary-Margaret...” David says warily, knowing very well he's walking on eggshells right now. “Who could possibly have hurt Regina? There's no new villain in town, Gold just came back from his honeymoon with Belle, Zelena is dead. And I really don't see someone being brave enough to even confront Regina. Half the town is still afraid of her.”_

_“And with what happened with Robin Hood, it seems logical that she needs some space. That's what she always did when she was in pain.” Hook points. “Maybe this time she decided that leaving town would end her misery once and for all.”_

_“Maybe.” She concedes. “But I still find hard to believe that she left Henry behind, or that she would leave permanently without saying goodbye.”_

_“I understand, mom, but why would she wrote a letter for Henry if she didn't plan to leave?” Emma replies._

_Mary-Margaret cocks her head, gives her that point._

_“Don't worry, I'm sure that Regina is fine. And I won't stop looking for her, though I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to hear anything from us.” Emma concludes._

 

Back to the present

Emma _is_ wrong. She can't find Regina outside Storybrooke because she _isn't_ there. His mother is still in town, Henry just _knows_ it. He _feels_ it. Like a voice in his head whispering, telling him she needs him, reminding him that he's the only one still believing in her and he must _not_ let her down. All he has to do is to find her. If no one cares for her, he will. It's not about trying to be a hero and believing in a storybook this time. It's deeper than that. There’s a bound between them that screams at Henry that his mother is calling him and praying to be found.

For a month, he was able to pretend that he was fine. He kept the mask on, played with Neal, went to school, lived a normal life. But pretending becomes harder everyday, and he can't just keep ignoring that gut feeling telling him he needs to do something.  _Now_!

For the last two days, he's been thinking about how exactly he could get some help, until suddenly an idea hit him. It's a bet, but it might lead somewhere. Anyway, he doesn't really have a lot of options here. So at the first occasion, he walks to Grannys, and as soon as he spots the young woman, walks to Ruby. She's smiling at him, tilts her head to the side in question.

“Can I do something for you, Henry?”

“Actually, yes. I need your help. Or more exactly, your werewolf abilities.”

She frowns.

“Why do you need the werewolf?”

Henry takes a deep breath, and looks her right in the eyes. “We have to find my mom.”

* * *

 

It's been a month, and Robin doesn’t remember his life to have been this awful. Exception made his wife’s death, that is.

Which is exactly the problem.

As much as he remembers Marian, she's always been the kind, gentle, soft lover and mother type.

But the woman who came back with Emma and Hook... He can't really put his finger on it, but something is definitely wrong about her.

Her tone is harsher than he remembers. Her kisses hungrier. Her temper shorter. She scowled Roland so hardly once she made the little boy cry, and seemed untouched by it.

And she's sneaking out. She disappears in the middle of the night regularly, sometimes also during the day. He found her more than once sitting alone in a corner and focusing on something in her hands that he never really managed to see.

She always comes up with an explanation, but he can tell that something is definitely not right.

At first, he believed it was because he missed Regina. The pain of knowing she'd left town was worse than he had imagined. He thought that breaking up with her would crush him, but the idea of never seeing her, ever again... Well... That's another level of heartbreak he hoped he’d never experienced again.

He tries to play with Roland, attempts to focus on his boy’s game, but his heart is not there. So Robin just sits there, watches his son play alone in front of him. He spots Marian's frame walking slowly to them, smiling. She lays her hand on his shoulder, leans forward to kiss his cheek, and takes place next to him.

“Hey!” she whispers.

“Hey. Where were you?”

“I went for a walk in town. I'm still trying to get use to all that.” She chuckles, waving her hand in front of her.

As everyday for the last week, he nods, but doesn't believe her. He plays along, except that this time, Robin is determined to find out what she's hiding.

He waits until Roland is tucked in, until they went to bed themselves and she thinks he's asleep next to her. When she gets and exits the tent, Robin quietly follows her. He learns a while ago how to stalk someone without them realizing. Carefully, silently, he observes her walk straight towards the edge of the forest. It’s only after maybe fifteen minutes that he recognizes where she’s heading.

_Zelena's farmhouse_.

He stops behind a tree, and watches his wife head for the storm cellar. She makes sure no one is around, so he hides, and holds his breath until he hears a metallic sound. Then, his head pops out of his hiding spot.

She walks inside, and closes the heavy door behind her.

And then, Robin waits.

He waits for what seems like hours. During that time, there's nothing but silence, the light sounds of the forest at night he’s not afraid of, as he’s been accustomed with them almost his whole life.

When the door opens again, Robin steps back, ready to sprint towards the camp so she won’t notice his absence in the tent. The minute he’s sure that she’s stepping and she begins to close the door, he heads back to the camp. He's seen enough for now.

But what Robin doesn't see, is the wave of magic coming from his wife's hand, and locking the door.

* * *

 

A week later

Robin asked Belle to spend some time with Marian, to chaperon her for girls’ activities, show her the town, and do whatever occupation the young woman is more acquainted with than him.

He needs time.

Since the night he followed her, whenever she wasn't at the farmhouse, Marian has barely left him alone. She doesn't know, he thinks. He _hopes_. Because she's been this way since her return. Always stinging at his side, always holding his hand, clutching to his arm, leaning against his chest. He was somehow content at first, when he thought he’d been gifted with his wife’s return, but now he finds it oppressive, overwhelming. He grits his teeth each time, tries not to show his doubts.

Not knowing what's going on and keeping up this sick little game drives him nut, he needs to know what's up with his wife. Why is she so different? What is she hiding from him?

As soon as she's disappeared at the corner with Belle, he sprints in direction of the forest, runs through it, and emerges at the same spot where he followed her last time, breathless. Except that he's not alone.

There’s Henry and that waitress from Grannys, _Ruby_ , he remembers. The boy follows the young woman’s quick pace as she seems to be sniffing in the air, frowning and stopping from time to time to lead their path.

Robin steps forward and calls them just when Ruby notices his presence.

“What are you doing here?” Henry asks. The boy is defiant, tensed, suspicious, but Robin is in no mood to bow in front of him right now.

“I could ask you the same question.”

“We're looking for my mom. I know she's still in Storybrooke.”

Robin frowns, and he tilts his head in question towards Ruby, who shrugs.

“Werewolf here!” She answers his silent question, pointing at her own nose. “I'm trying to follow her smell, but with nothing of hers, I'm not as effective as I could be.”

“It led you here?”

“We tried different places where she could be hiding. Henry thought that no one is likely to come around here, since... _Zelena_ , you know? That maybe Regina could be here. I don't know if what I smell is her, but there's definitely something weird. I can't really tell what.”

“What about you?” Henry cuts. “What are you doing here?”

“I...” Robin pauses. Is it really necessary to inform the boy of his marital issues? “I saw Marian heading over here one night.” He confesses at last, tilting his chin towards the storm shelter. “She's disappearing a lot, and at some point I just decided to follow her.”

“Wait!” Henry's brow furrows in concentration, a finger to his chin as he thinks deeply. “If Marian comes here regularly, and my mom is missing since she came back, and Ruby smells something weird...”

He doesn't finish his sentence, three pair of eyes widening in realization before they rushes to the metallic door. As Robin tries to open it, he's pushed back by a strong force and lands a few meters away.

“Magic.” Ruby breathes while he recovers from the blast, sitting up. “We need Emma, I’m calling her.”

“Magic?” Robin whispers, stunned. How is that possible?

As Ruby takes a few steps to warn the blonde woman and ask her to join them, Robin meets Henry's panicked gaze. He walks to the boy, a shaking hand clapping his shoulder. It's meant to be reassuring, but he's not certain to be in a better state of mind than the twelve year-old right now. He doesn't need to speak. None of them does. Right now, they both know the same thing. A person they deeply love has been missing for 5 weeks, and maybe, just _maybe_ , they're about to find her. What has happened to her though, that’s what’s worrying them.

“She's on her way.” Ruby announces when she joins them.

And indeed, less then fifteen minutes later, Emma steps out of the sheriff's car with David on her heels. Henry just shows her the door, tells her it ejected Robin in the air when he tried to open it.

The blonde holds her hands in front of her, focuses all of her energy on the door, closes her eyes, until a ray of light magic emerges from them, colliding with the lock and struggling for a few seconds, before making him explode in pieces.

They don't move. They don't speak. They don't know what they'll find inside,  _who_  they will find.

Henry moves first. He takes a few resolute steps to reach the door, and with his mother help, they swing it open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some progress was made in this chapter. What do you think they'll find in the storm cellar ?
> 
> The next chapter will be entirely focused on Regina. We will go back in time to the night of the diner's events to find out why she suddenly vanished.


	4. Chapter 4

5 weeks earlier, the night of Marian's return

Regina closes the file she's been so desperately trying to read for the last half hour. Lifting her head up, she glances at the clock, and sighs. Ten past midnight.

She's not particularly inclined to go to bed, but she's clearly unable to focus so she won’t make any progress with the town budget right now. Except that she needs to keep herself busy in order to stop thinking, because her treacherous mind keeps bringing her _there_ , to that moment when her world fell apart again.

After a second thought, she decides that she'll be most effective after a few hours of rest. Truth be told, she's exhausted. The scene at Grannys drained all her energy. Marian's return ripped her off her hopes at a happy ending. Robin is lost to her now that his wife is back. No matter how much it hurts, she has to accept it.

Regina kills the light in the kitchen and the living-room, and she heads for the stairs to change and slip under the covers for a likely sleepless night, when something catches her attention.

She lights a fireball, lifts her chin and asks in a warning tone, “Show yourself!”

She gasps when Marian steps out of the shadows. Regina recovers quickly, closes her fist over the fireball, her arm falling along her side. Harming Robin’s wife the day of her return will certainly not do any good to whatever is left of her relationship with him. However, Marian is in _her_ home, so Regina doesn’t bother to hide her exasperation.

“How the hell did you get inside?”

The woman doesn't reply, instead she smirks, before walking to her, _slowly_ , as a hunter about to take down his prey.

Regina stays rotten on spot, there’s no way she’ll give her the satisfaction to bow in front of her. However, before she has time to renew her question, she finds herself flying in the air, her head colliding strongly against the wall.

And then everything goes black.

She wakes up in obscurity, her body so numb she barely feels it. Regina blinks several times, but she still can't see anything. Her head hurts badly and she feels dizzy. Her heart is hamming heavily against her chest, anxiety beginning to settle in her mind and body. She takes a deep breath, comes back to her senses, and tries to assess the situation with a cold head. Now isn’t the time to start panicking.

She opens a hand to create a fireball in order to get some light, but nothing happens. The familiar feeling of magic rushing through of her is gone. But she tries again. And again. She attempts to cast different spells, even the simplest ones, and when nothing works, she gives up. Her magic is definitely not working.

_Old way then! No magic, only you, only what you can feel_ , she tells herself.

Regina has a quick flash of a similar situation, another moment of her life when someone was able to remove her magic and left her completely powerless. A surge of fear begins to grow again in her belly, images of pain and torture coming back at her in waves.

But she shakes the thought away, tells herself to focus on the present. She remembers Rumpelstiltskin's lessons, when he used to blindfold her and she had to find him using her guts and magic only. So she does just that, focuses to remember every sound, every sensation she experienced since she awoke. She turns her attention to the surroundings she still cannot see, and uses her hands, body and others senses to picture where she is.

As she'd moved her hand to form a fireball, she noticed how heavy her wrist was, and heard a click with every movement she made. She brings her left hand to her right wrist, and discovers a cold metallic handcuff. _There's a chain clasped around my wrist_ , she realizes. Her hands blindly grope the wall, then the ground, finally find the clamp. She pulls on it as much as she can, but it’s firmly anchored. She frowns, moves to stand and take a step forward to check the length of it, but is forced back and down on her knees almost immediately. That's when she feels the same unpleasant sensation around her left foot too.

She's trapped.

She realizes that her hands are wet, and remembers them being immerged in water while she was looking for the clamp. It hits her then, as numbness fades and sensations gradually come back in her body. It's not just her hands. It's her! Her legs, her body. She's sitting on a cold stone floor, in a puddle of icy water. She tries to move out of it, but her tentative is aborted when the chains seem to tighten their grip on her and forbid her to go away.

There are droplets on her forehead, her cheeks, her lips, the atmosphere is thick with condensation, and she reflexively licks her lips and closes her eyes when her dry mouth welcomes the wonderful feeling of being hydrated, no matter how minimal the relief is.

Regina opens her eyes and scans her surroundings again. No light. Anywhere! All darkness, everywhere. She must be underground.  _How ironic!_ she thinks.

She hears nothing. The silence is so deep it almost scares her.

She sits cross-legged to process the information she collected and figure out how she ended up here. She tries to recollect what happened at her house, but all she can picture is a thin silhouette, then nothing but pain and darkness.

She ignores how much time she spends here, staring ahead blankly, but it feels like a lifetime of endless loneliness and darkness. Well, a pretty good summary of what her life, actually.

Regina winces. She's hungry, and thirsty. She can't bring herself to drink the water on the ground, she's not that desperate. But considering the way her stomach twists angrily, she guesses she's missed more than just one meal.

Also, cold is enveloping her. Her clothes are soaked from the humidity of the room and the puddle she's stuck in. She shivers violently, tiredly leans against the wall nearby, to jerk forward when its icy temperature comes in contact with her skin. In the end, exhaustion wins and she leans back, folding her knees against her chest, hugging herself to try to stay warm, but failing miserably. Her head drops against her knees while she attempts to think. There must be a way out. But which one? Her magic isn’t working, and the chains currently hampering her movement are too strong and thick to be broken by her bare hands.

She must have fallen asleep at some point, because when she opens her eyes again, she's lying on the ground, her clothes entirely drenched now, her hair damp, the cheek resting on the floor so cold she barely feels it.

She weakly pushes on her hands to sit and attempt to wipe her face, but both her hands and arms are wet now, so what’s the point.

The hunger is still present, but at least it’s not as overwhelming as it was before. However, it hurts, makes her wince and bring a palm to her belly to massage it slowly.

And suddenly, she freezes.

There are footsteps above her head, and then a clasp. And _finally_ , there's light. Blinding light. Regina shuts her eyes, brings a hand to cover them and protect herself from the sudden assault.

Footsteps again. Closer, this time.

An almost deafening metallic sound precedes the return of the darkness. There’s a click, immediately followed by another light, less blinding this time, filtering through her fingers.

She forces herself to open her eyes, blinks once, twice, and then just stares. For she recognizes very well the person in front of her.

“Well well well... What do we have here?”

Marian bends towards her, grabbing her chin firmly, her fingers digging into Regina's skin. She tries to recedes, but finds herself completely paralyzed, her body refusing to answer her command, frozen, like...

Regina’s heartbeats quicken when she recalls where and when she felt this way before.

But it can't be.

“Come on, Regina! Where's your usual sass? Don't tell me you've already gone soft! I thought it’d be a little bit harder for me to break you.”

As Marian takes a step back, Regina feels free to move again. Her hand brushes the skin where the other woman's fingers held her tight, tries to soothe the pain.

“What do you want?” is the only question that comes out of her mouth. Her voice is hoarse, but strong, and she holds her chin high without once breaking eye-contact.

“What do I want?” Marian scoffs, slowly pacing in front of her. “Oh, I want so many things. Seeing you suffer is actually on top of my list. Since you and your little friends ruined my plans of a happy ending, I had to come up with another idea.”

Regina's eyes widen when she realizes that she was right. It can't be. But somehow, it is.

“Cut the crap!” Regina snaps harshly. “I have no idea how this is possible, but I'm fairly certain that you aren’t Marian.”

The woman strolls abruptly towards her and bends forward, eyes shining with madness.

“Tell me then. _W_ _ho_  am I?” she asks with a wicked grin.

Regina inhales deeply, still glaring, articulating every syllable with as much aversion as she can.

“Zelena.”

A throaty laugh echoes in the room as Marian leans back. She sends Regina a pointed look, smirking all the way. A hand reaches for her cleavage and grabs a small pendant. A green light fills it as her features change to reveal her real appearance.

Regina doesn't move an inch. She doesn’t even raise an incredulous eyebrow. She just... stares.

How is this possible? She saw her sister die on that video-tape. She saw her body break like porcelain into millions of pieces.

But then, she takes a minute to process the last weeks. What if it was her sister’s plan all along? After getting caught, her only way left to get away with her crazy idea of destroying her sister's life would have been to find a way to open the portal. Faking her death, then playing Emma and Killian and making them believe that she was Robin's dead wife, fulfilled her wish. Although crazy, Regina admits that this plan is brilliant. What better way to destroy her sister's happiness than making her new love think that his wife is back?

“Robin!” Regina exclaims, the realization that he’s probably been living with Zelena this whole time. “What did you do to him?”

She jerks forward as she speaks, but is forced backward by the chains restraining her and digging into her skin, making her grimace as pain spreads in her arms.

“Oh, I'm nothing but the lovely little wife he spent so much time mourning.” Zelena answers innocently. “Don't worry, he's safe!” she then spits, rolling her eyes with annoyance. “At least for now.”

“What do you mean?” Regina can't help anxiety to pierce in her voice, and she knows Zelena is reveling in her fear to see him harmed. But right now she doesn't care about how weak and vulnerable she might sound. She just wants to know that Robin and Roland are safe. She'll do everything to make sure they won't get injured.

“As long as he's the perfect husband -and believe me, for now he hasn't failed any of his vows,” Zelena smirks with a wink. “he and his little brat won't have to face anyone else than sweet sweet _boring_ Marian.”

Regina feels sick. She understood clearly the implication of her sister's words, and a pang of hurt squeezes her chest so tightly she's afraid she might not start to breathe again. A tear leaves her eyes but her features harden.

“I'll make you pay for that.”

“And how exactly do you intend to do that, _sis'_? You see, I blocked your magic. Those chains are not just to keep you here. There are also taking away your powers. I have no intention of letting you out of here. But I'll be nice, and give you something to entertain yourself while I'm enjoying your boyfriend. Or should I say _my_ husband?”

She doesn't wait for an answer, waves her hand in front of her, and a mirror appears on the wall facing Regina. At first, it looks like a simple mirror, but then the reflection begins to change and turns into the faces of Robin and Roland, happily playing in the forest. Regina’s heart squeezes at the sight, another tear rolling down her cheek. She wants to move closer, but remembers at the last minute that she can't.

“I want you to see how happy everyone is without you, Regina. It's only been two days, and they're already back to living their lives like you never even existed.

The sight morphs into Henry's frame at the Charming's loft. He’s talking with Snow while cuddling little Neal, shoving ice cream in his mouth and smiling.

“They're far better off without you, Regina.”

“But they'll wonder where I am.” the brunette retorts, her voice filled with hope.

“You see, that's where you're wrong.” Zelena pauses, enjoys the questioning look on her sister's face. “After I took care of you that night, I went back to your house to remove every of your things including your car, and hid them somewhere safe. I left a note, explaining how you came to realize you will always be a villain, that their lives will be happier without you and that consequently you decided to leave town. I even copied your handwriting, thanks to documents I found in your office.” She pauses again, and Regina knows Zelena is delighted in the situation. “See? My plan is perfect.” her sister leaps, eyes wide with excitement.

“They'll never buy it.” Regina argues quietly.

“Oh yes, they will!” Zelena assures confidently. “Because no matter how much you fooled yourself into believing that you've changed, they all still see you as this pathetic Queen who let her heartbreak turn her into a monster.”

Regina can't help despair from washing over her. She fights it, doesn’t let it last, but she’s conscious that there's a part of truth in Zelena's words. And by so, there's also a chance that her sister’s plan will actually work.

Zelena turns to leave, proud, feeding her good mood with the pain and hurt she reads over her sister's face. She takes back Marian's appearances just before she climbs the stairs, and stops.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” she turns to her sister and waves her hand. A small bottle of water and a loaf of bread appear in front of the brunette. “You should try to save it as long as you can. I have no idea of when your dear Robin will let his wife away from him again.” She winks, shrugs excitedly, swirls on her heels and adds while climbing the stairs, not bothering to look behind. “This place is sealed with magic, so you can try to scream and call if you want, but no one will hear you.”.

And then, she closes the heavy metallic door, sending her sister back to darkness and loneliness.

Regina is still in shock, staring at the _food_ her sister had the kindness to give her, then at the mirror that she can't quite see anymore now that there's no light and it's off.

She blindly grabs the bread, thinks twice before bringing a piece to her mouth, then just does it. Her sister has better plans than simply poisoning her. It's thick and overcooked, and wet from the water it landed into, but she's so hungry at this moment she doesn't care. She tries to stop herself from eating all of it, chews as slowly as possible, saves as much water as she can too, before leaning back against the wall.

It's cold, and she recedes a bit, but she's too worn and weak to stay straight by herself. She rests against it again, fighting every cell in her body that wants to escape the unpleasant sensation.

She has no idea of how much time she stays like that, but at some point, sleep finally takes her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, you know what happened that fateful night. I'll give you more details as the story goes on.  
> However, the next chapter will focus entirely on the present. It will start exactly where we left Henry, Robin, Emma, Charming and Ruby, and we'll find out what they'll discover in the storm cellar (I believe you may have an idea of who, but don't forget that 5 weeks have passed, so...)  
> I apologize for the mistakes, my english might have improved since I first wrote this story but it's still far from being perfect.   
> Thanks for the reviews, please take five minute to leave your opinion before closing the page ;-) It will brighten my day!


	5. Chapter 5

Robin is the first one to step inside the basement. Ruby is keeping Henry outside, while Emma and David follow him.

He spots her immediately. She's curled up into a ball in a corner of the room, her hair sticking and falling over her face as she tries to rise on her elbow to face them.

He runs forward, calling her name frantically, kneeling in front of her and preventing her to fall when her strengths fail her. He pulls her close, allows her to rest against him, cups her cheeks in both his hands, removes her hair away from her face and gasps.

She's pale. Deadly pale. Her flesh is bruised, her lower lip swollen from a cut covered with dry blood. Her eyes are barely opened, and as soon as he gets a hold on her he feels her entire body relaxing against his, becoming limp and heavy at the same time. He brings her to his chest, and she's cold. So cold. Freezing. Trembling. And wet. She's laying into a puddle of filthy water, and she’s soaked to the bones, shivering violently, coughing and wincing, whimpering as he tightens his hold on her. He cradles her scalp, her back, her shoulders, wraps her into his own jacket, tries to warm her up, knows that what he does is not enough, and he feels a sob get struck in his throat as he starts to imagine what she must have endured while he was playing house. A surge of guilt hits him, and he drops his head against hers, lips in her hair, murmuring  _I'm sorry_  again and again and again even though she's unconscious now.

Emma and David are by his side, and they're staring at the chains keeping Regina's prisoner. He hadn't even noticed it, was too overwhelmed by his fear and horror to realize anything else.

“I can't open it.” David says, forcing to open the one holding Regina's ankle.

“Let me try.”

Emma holds her hand in front of her, closes her eyes, focuses, and a light ray emerges to clasp the chains open.

The three of them gasp when they see the state of the skin underneath the chains. It's bleeding slowly, but there's dry blood too. It's swollen, the skin is ripped and red, and there's a festering wound on her wrist where she must have tried to free herself by pulling too much on the chains.

“We need to bring her to the hospital.” Emma says in a hurry, getting up quickly.

David helps Robin to adjust Regina's numb body in his arms before following him outside.

xxx

The moment he glimpses the lifeless body of his mother, Henry's face loses all its colors. He jumps by Robin's side, grabs his mother's hand carefully, and frowns when he feels the coldness emanating from her.

“Is she...” but he can't bring himself to say the words, feels tears prickling in his eyes, Ruby's warm hand squeezing his shoulder in comfort.

“No, kid. She's still with us. But we have to take her to the hospital quickly.” Emma says, stepping out of the cellar.

Henry doesn't let go of his mother's hand, catches up with Robin's fast pace to the car, and reluctantly breaks physical contact when the man settles her on the back seat. Henry tries to get in the car, but Emma's hand stops him.

“Go with Ruby. I want you to stay with Mary-Margaret for now.”

“No! I want to be with my mom. She needs me.”

“Henry, right now what your mother needs, is a doctor. It won't do you any good to stay for hours in a waiting room. I'll call you when she's awake.”

“I want to be there for her. I  _have_  to be there for her. I'm not...” he insists but Emma cuts him firmly.

“Henry, stop! You're not coming right now. Period.”

And with that and the angry gaze her son is throwing at her, she gets in the car and drives straight to the hospital.

xxx

Robin is sitting on a chair, next to her bed, holding her hand since the moment he was allowed in the room.

She's drowned under wires, linked to half a dozen machines, all beeping regularly. The noise is driving him crazy, but he knows it means that she's still alive, and this technology will help her to come back to them.

He's exhausted. Not a physical exhaustion, but a mental one. He should have known. He should have known that she would never leave without a goodbye. He should have known something was wrong, should have felt it.

He _failed_ her. And this painful statement is killing him. His wrong choices and bad judgment have led to that. To her, unconscious in a hospital bed, with a risk of never waking up.

He doesn't deserve her. He doesn’t deserve this woman who went through hell countless times, nearly drowned each time but always managed to come back, who redeemed herself and kept saving people's lives regardless of her own, who gave him her heart in every sense of the way and he failed to keep it safe every time.

This pang in his chest is not leaving him, not giving him a second of rest and somehow he's glad, because he deserves it. He should be the one laying there, not her.

_“We put her under an artificial coma. She's extremely weak, and it will take time for her to heal. She has a lung infection, a blood infection, several broken ribs, she's hypothermic, dehydrated and she's been beaten and starved for weeks. I'm not going to lie, she might not wake up.”_

She might not wake up.

She might not wake up.

The doctor’s words are looping in his mind but he refuses to believe them. He refuses to let her go. He lost her once, but it won't happen again. There's no choice to be made. If she'll have him, he belongs to Regina, and Marian will have to understand. And then it hits him.

_Marian!_

She's the one who led him to this basement. She's the one he saw getting inside and out. The shock of finding Regina in that state made him forget why he was there in the first place.

He rises abruptly, gently drops a kiss on Regina's forehead, releases her hand and lets it rest along her side, murmurs “I'll be back, Regina. I'll be back soon.” and leaves the room.

He meets David and Emma, still in the hallway, and tells them the whole story. How he thought his wife had changed. How she was nowhere to be found for hours. How he followed her one night and discovered the basement. How she may be -and probably is- responsible for Regina's condition.

A minute later they're gone. They call Belle while running down the stairs. She tells them she and Marian parted ways a while ago, she must be at the camp by now. Emma drives way above the speed limit, and they're there in no time.

Robin glimpses her, not far from Roland, chatting with Little John, and ignores Emma's warning and David's hand trying to stop him from grabbing his wife and pinning her violently against a tree, his forearm pressing against her throat just enough to make her shriek in surprise and open her eyes in fear.

“Give me one reason not to kill you right now!”

Her eyes are full of panic, and he hears Emma, David and Little John's voices behind him, telling him to calm down, to let her go, but he doesn't listen.

This, that woman, is _not_ his wife.

He doesn't know how that's possible, but she's not his sweet Marian. Marian would never do that. She would never hurt someone, treat a person like that out of jealousy.

“Robin, please.” she pleads “You're hurting me.”

But he doesn't let go. He won't believe her lies anymore, won't believe a word she says.

“Robin, what are you doing?” Little John asks, confused.

“Papa?”

Roland's small and frightened voice brings him back from his anger, and he loosens his hold just enough to look at his son. But soon, he remembers Regina's body on the ground, and his attention is back on Marian again.

“Little John, take Roland away from here. I don't want him near her.”

“Robin...”

“Do it!” he screams, and his friend doesn’t need to be told twice, catches a scared Roland and walks away. He knows better than to argue with his friend when he's that furious.

Robin makes sure that they're gone, before taking a step back, releasing his _wife_ completely.

She bends forward, a hand to her neck, confused eyes looking frankly at him.

“We found Regina.” Emma declares. “We know you were the one who kidnapped her.”

And Marian's whole face changes into a wicked smirk. She brings her hand to the necklace around her neck as she says “In this case, there's no more need for this pathetic appearance.”

They gasp when her body changes in front of her, letting Zelena's feature replacing Marian's. Robin stumbles back, mouth opened in shock, eyes filled with horror, and Emma and David reach for their guns immediately, but the witch is faster and with one movement, she sends them crashing against a tree nearby.

She walks slowly to Robin, who's dazed, unable to believe what he sees. He's been such an idiot. He had noticed something was wrong but never, ever, would he have believed his Marian was... well...  _her_.

She leans forward, a finger tracing the curve of his jaw, and he doesn't move, just glares angrily at her, hands fisting so tightly it hurts. He has never raised a hand on a woman before, but he really feels like making an exception right now. And he wants to. Is about to. But she doesn't let him time to do anything when she lifts her hand and sends him flying backward, his head hitting the floor a few meters away.

“It's so bad, you couldn't just be happy with what you had. Your wife was back, it should have been enough.”

“You were never my wife. I should have understood your trick sooner. But you won't hurt Regina anymore. She's safe, and I won't let you get near her, ever again.”

Zelena lets out a sarcastic laugh “As if you could do anything against me.”

A second later, she's gone, and David is by his side, helping him to get up. They warn the Merry Men, tell them to be careful, not to trust Marian again, it was all a trick, the witch is back. After hugging his son tightly, promising him he'll be back soon, Robin follows Emma and David through the forest and to the hospital.

When he steps into _her_ room again, she hasn't moved an inch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, now that they found Regina, and Zelena has been unmasked, we'll be going back and forth between Regina's past in the cellar and her present at the hospital for a few chapters. You'll have a part of each period in every chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

Regina, 2nd week in captivity

She has lost the count of time. She's staring at the darkness all day and night, the only periods of light being either her sister's visits or the happiest but also most painful moments. It's when the mirror activates, shows her images of her son, her family, of Robin and Roland, living their lives, being happy, _without her_.

Her sister’s insufferable giggles and tendency to throw at her face her new happy life, _that_ , she can handle. How much she misses her loved-ones and how they seem to have forgotten her, it's a different kettle of fish, one she hoped after coming back to Storybrooke she'd never have to experience again. Despite the numerous times she's been confronted to being separated from people she loves, the pain never lessens.

She sees them at Grannys, at the park, at home, playing, laughing and loving, being _happy_. She witnesses tender gestures and soft looks. She watches care and human warmth. Everything she doesn't have anymore, everything she will never have back if she doesn’t get out of here.

It’s possible that Zelena is making this up to hurt her, but even if she is, it works. As much as Regina tries to focus on the joy to see them unharmed and safe, to convince herself they haven't given up on her, and that they are looking for her, she can't help resignation and doubt to take over her mind, to drive her towards sadness and despair.

Her sister is right. They  _are_  happy without her. They keep living their lives without her. Oh, she didn't expect Hook, Charming or even Emma to miss her. But she had strong hopes that at least Henry, maybe Snow, or even Robin -though they've only been together a short time- would care enough not to fall into Zelena's trap. She thought that maybe they would fight the idea of her leaving without a goodbye, as a coward, nothing but a letter and an empty house behind her.

She shouldn't be resentful, so she tries to fight the feeling, because she's not even sure those images are real. But they _look_ real. So real she could almost stretch her hand forward and touch their faces, had she not been restrained by chains.

So, in order not to let the bitterness and despair take her, as she guesses her sister expects. Regina focuses on how much she misses them. How much she wants to see them again. _Hold them_. She's not a hugger, never has been, never will be, but she's starving for love, kindness, and human's warmth more than she's starving for food or coziness. And she thinks the moment she'll see them -because she will, she will not stop fighting until she's out of this place-, she will be the one to hug people, for once.

xxx

Regina, 3rd week of captivity

She must be here for weeks now. Her sister came a few times, always gloating, always mocking her, always looking at her with that smirk and power plastered over her face that Regina wants to wipe off with her bare hands.

But she can't. Everytime she's trying to remove the chains, their grip seem to tighten. Her wrist even started to hurt constantly now, and she can feel the smell of blood as it slowly flows from her injury.

She feels weak. Not because she's been deprived of her magic. After all, she lived 28 years without it. No, this time, it's physical. Her body tells her to save what little strength she has left, to hold on as much longer as she can. She's in survival mode. Do nothing except what's necessary. Spare as much food as you can because you have no idea when the next 'meal' will be served. Move as little as possible and sleep as much as you can to save your energy. Try to stay warm despite your freezing environment.

She tries her best to hold on to what she had, what she  _has_ , she corrects mentally. She focuses all her energy on Henry's smiling face, the way he held on to her, the sparkle of happiness in his eyes when he remembered her just before she broke the curse.

She thinks of Snow, and how the two of them have grown close during the missing year in the Enchanted Forest. Snow, thanks to whom she finally trusted herself enough to let go of her fears, which led her to open herself up to Robin.

Robin, and his blue eyes full of care and tenderness, looking after her since the beginning, even when she was so afraid to let him in that she was pushing him away harshly. Robin, who thinks he's been blessed with his dead wife's return, while this is all a twisted trick and lie.

She shakes her head.  _Do not go on that road_ , she tells herself.

She saw them. Zelena makes a point to show her every gentle and loving moment between her and Robin. Every kiss, every caress, every touch. Regina closes her eyes and covers her ears with her hands to avoid seeing and hearing those moments of intimacy, but the sound is always too loud, the light from the mirror too bright and she always loses the battle and ends up crying in a corner, defeated.

* * *

 

Present day

It's been four days.

Four days, and nothing.

Regina is still unconscious.

She's stable, hasn't declined, but hasn't improved either.

Henry is here now too.

After hearing Whale's decision to stop Regina’s medical induced coma to let her awake by herself, and a talk with her parents confirming that Henry was getting crazy at the loft, threatening to sneak out to join his mom, Emma realized that trying to keep him away from Regina was a mistake. So she changed her mind, telling him it was best he spent as much time with Regina as possible.

Since the moment he's stepped into his mother’s room, he's barely left it.

So here they are, Robin and Henry, each holding one of Regina's hands. They barely speak, at least not to each other. Henry still has some difficulties to deal with the fact that Robin gave up on his mother so easily. Truth be told, the boy knows that believing she was gone to create a new and happy life was easier than imagining her agonizing somewhere. However, it felt like an abandon, and though they never truly spoke about it, Robin is well aware of the boy’s feelings.

But they know that what Regina needs right now isn’t a fight, but people who love and support her, who lead her journey to the living world, so there’s a silent truce between them.

They haven't seen or heard from Zelena since they unmasked her, and it's also one of the reasons Regina is never left alone and Emma cast a protective spell around her room. She's not certain it will stop the witch, but it's something.

She, David, some of the Merry Men and people from the town keep looking for her, but no luck so far. She's hiding, and she’s very good at it. Everyone is anxious because they know that when the witch will strike back, she will strike hard. And with Regina down and Gold so caught up in his new life as a husband, despite Emma's powers, they feel defenseless.

Robin remembers the past weeks, the way she fooled him and everyone else and he blames himself for not seeing clear in her game. He should have realized sooner. All the fights, the short temper, the yelling he was so not used to. The fact that everytime Regina was brought into the conversation, she was suddenly showing a jealousy he didn't know she had. He understands why now, but it's too late. the damage is done, and it's the woman he truly loves -he came to realize that while watching over her and praying for her to come back to him- who paid the price for his inability to see past the physical appearances.

He thinks of Roland, so happy to have his mother back, that he still doesn't understand why his father awkwardly explained that he could never see her anymore, that she was gone forever. Little John brings Roland to Robin every day, but they stay outside the hospital, go to the park nearby, eat an ice cream or drink a hot chocolate at Grannys. The last thing the boy needs is to be traumatized by the sight of an unconscious and bruised Regina linked to so many machines she's almost drowned under the wires. Whale removed the tube in her throat helping her breathing, so it's less impressive, but still. Robin has too much to worry about without having this image stuck into his son's head. So he splits his time between them both, a still confused Roland and a barely alive Regina.

“Hey.”

Ruby's soft voice draws Robin away from his thoughts, and he smiles weakly at her. She walks to him, glimpses Henry's sleeping form on his mother's arm, before handing the man a cup of coffee and a sandwich.

The young woman has been helping since they've discovered Regina. He’s aware that the two women have never been friends. Even in the Enchanted Forest, Ruby was always reluctant to stay around when Regina was here. But since that day at the farmhouse, she admitted she would have never wished for the former Queen to be treated like that. No one should have to suffer that kind of treatment.

“Still no sign of improvement?” she whispers, glancing at Henry, careful not to wake him up.

Robin shakes his head, and sighs. It feels like an eternity. It feels like they're still on edge. Whale hasn't cleared Regina from any risk of getting worse. The infections are under control, but a relapse is still possible. The only thing to do is waiting.

xxx

“Come on, mom. You have to wake up.”

Henry tries his best to hide his fear and pain at seeing her like this, manages to keep his voice strong and encouraging, hoping that if she can hear him, it'll give her the courage she needs to come back to him.

He's been alone for the past ten minutes now. Robin is out with his son, and Ruby, who took his place to not leave Regina unprotected, has left the room when she received a phone call, and hasn't returned yet.

He uses this moment of privacy with his mother to talk her through her coma, the way he does each time they are left alone.

He tells her that she can't leave him. She can't give up. She has never given up before, _ever_. He knows her story, he knows  _her_ , and he keeps reminding her she would never stop fighting. He knows she's tired, and sick, and he has no idea of what she's been through, but he's certain that she can survive this. She's not alone anymore, she's not struggling on her own to keep her head above the water. She has a family. She has friends, people ready to fight for her.

She has _him_.

He's sorry he forgot the depth of their love for each other so many times. He's sorry for what he put her through. But he's here now, he's not going anywhere. He didn't stop believing in her this time, and he _won't_. She can beat this. He has faith in her. She's stronger than she's ever been, she has _light magic_ now, he recalls, nothing but pride in his voice. Nothing can stop her!

He doesn't want to lose her. He can't, not again. They finally found each other. If she's too weak, he has enough strength for them both. He trusts her to be able to come back to him. She just has to believe.

He clutches at her hand tightly, watches her face deeply, holds his breath as he tries to find a sign, _any sign_ , of her awakening. But she doesn't. She's still irresponsive, not as pale as she was but her face stays battered and bruised. He never saw her like this, so vulnerable, so weak. He's not even sure he ever saw her sick before.

He scoots his chair closer, brings their linked hands to his chest, opening her palm so she can feel the steady beats of his heart against the crook of her hand.

He keeps his tears locked inside. He won't show any sign of weakness, not in front of her, not when she needs him strong and supportive. But watching her like that is hurting more than he imagined, the simple thought of her never waking up, never being a part of his life anymore, is _unbearable_. She's always been here, for as long as he remembers. She's always been the one constancy in his life. Even when he pushed her away, he could still feel her gaze watching over him from afar. She gave him _everything_. She never failed to be there once, when _he_ failed her so many times. He realizes now, that even when she was trying to rip off of his mind his idea of him being special and part of a fairy tale world, it never was to hurt him. It was not to lose him. She didn't choose the right solution, but her intention has always been to be his mother, to be the one person he could rely on no matter what.

So he makes the silent promise that from now on, he will never, ever, in his whole life, let her down, or doubt his love for her and her love for him. He will never make her cry again. He will be one who brings her joy and happiness every single day, who supports her and helps her every time she'll need to be reminded how wonderful and good she's become. He promises to never leave her, and make sure that she'll find her happy ending.

Because she's his mom, and she deserves it. More than anyone else in this town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a bit more action planned in the next chapter, I know this one was pretty slow... Also, you will find out if Regina will wake up or not ;-)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING for violence and torture in this chapter. I don't think it's unbearable, but better warn you ;-)  
> Again, I apologize for the mistakes! I'm trying to fix and improve as much as I can, but without changing the essence of the story (I'm not rewriting it after all XD), and considering that I'm doing this by myself and not with my betas, it's hard to make an excellent job :-S

Regina, 4th week in captivity

She shouldn't let herself drift into oblivion and abandon; she should _fight back_ her sister. At first, she tries. She tries _hard_. She refuses to give Zelena the satisfaction to see her broken, and fights her with everything she has inside, never showing any weakness.

Until one day, Zelena opens the door, and things turn out differently than usual.

It must be the middle of the night, because Regina can catch a glimpse of the darkness behind the witch when she enters the cellar. She is startled, abruptly awoken from a restless sleep, and slowly raises onto her elbow, her hair falling over her face as she stares silently at Zelena pacing angrily in front of her.

Zelena is pissed. She can see that. Something has irritated her and Regina has the feeling that this is not a courtesy visit and she'll be the one to pay for her sister’s bad mood. Indeed, the wait is short. Less than a minute after her sister entered the cellar, Regina feels herself projected against the wall, her back hitting it hard, knocking the breath out of her lungs for a moment, her body paralyzed by the pain, unable to move.

When Zelena releases her magic and Regina falls on the ground, she lands on her ribs and hears a _crack_ , another wave of pain washing over her, stronger this time. Despite all her will, she can't suppress the whimper that escapes her lips. She coughs trying to catch her breath, but it increases her suffering. She shuts her eyes and grits her teeth until it subsides, but a tear betrays her and escapes from her eye. However, before she has time to recover, she collides with the wall again, except this time Zelena keeps her firmly pressed against it and takes furious steps forward, closing the gap between them with an accusative finger pointed in her direction.

“I hope for you and your loved-ones that your _dear_ Robin Hood will calm his harsh tone against his wife.”

Regina stares at her sister with surprise, then smirks when realization settles in her mind. _He's fighting her_ , she thinks with a hint of satisfaction. Somehow, someway, Robin is pushing Zelena away, because Regina knows him too well to simply believe he would be verbally aggressive towards his own wife.

“Trouble in paradise, sis' ?”

She earns a slap for her remark, suppresses the groan that threatens to escape her as her head knocks hardly against the bricks.

Zelena straightens her spine, her tone suddenly lighter, her mood changing so quickly that Regina frowns in confusion.

“Don't worry, it was just an argument. You know, a little husband-wife fight, as any happily married couple can have. Nothing that a little make up in bed won't fix.” Regina forces herself not to react to the disgusting image her sister just willingly implanted in her mind.

“It's just... you know me?” Zelena shrugs, plastering a falsely guilty smile on her face. “I'm not the most patient person in the world.”

Regina doesn't answer, instead she just glares. She ignores what was the subject of the fight, but she a hint of hope lights up within her at the idea that maybe, just _maybe_ , Robin is starting to realize that something is wrong with his wife.

“Anyway,” Her sister’s voice brings Regina back to her current situation. “since I have _you_ , I can come here to relax myself a bit. I always dreamt of having my own personal punching ball. And after all, sisters do have their fights too, right? What do you say, Regina? Are you ready to go to the next level of our relationship?”

Horror fills Regina's eyes when she understands what’s going through her sister’s insane mind. She barely has time to tell herself to fight her sister’s madness and perversion, to resist Zelena and not give her the satisfaction to hear her scream, before she doubles over in pain, an excruciating agony that's burning and devouring her from the inside, as if a fire had lightened up in her body and electricity is cursing through her skin. All the while, her sister giggles, hand held in front of her, increasing the intensity of her spell, not giving her a moment's respite, until Regina finally gives up and screams, tears prickling at the corner of her eyes.

“That's it, beautiful!” she hears between two waves of magic. “Scream for me!”

And it goes on like that.

For every argument, every bad mood, every doubt Zelena experiences, Regina is the one paying. Sometimes, there's no bad day, just her sister having fun with her. She comes more frequently now, and Regina can tell that she truly enjoys the situation and the power she has over her.

She suffers every spell her sister throws at her, collides with every wall behind her, sometimes even endures a direct blow from Zelena's fist, her strength magically increased, when Regina attempts to fight back. She feels her bones break one after another, but all along, she manages to hold on and survive without begging her sister to stop.

Her body is a whole shade of blue, red, green, yellow and brown. There is not a spot free from bruises and contusions. And she can't even begin to imagine the internal damages this treatment is causing. Every part of her body hurts. There's not enough time for one mark or injury to heal that it's covered by another one.

In the end, she doesn't even fight the pain, just welcomes it with open arms because the pain is the only thing that proves that she's still alive.

* * *

 

Present day

Snow comes by everyday, and usually stays a few hours. She's mostly silent, and it scares Robin more than he thought was possible, because the princess he's learned to know in the Enchanted Forest and then Storybrooke is anything but silent. She's cheerful, always talking, often giggling, a smile constantly plastered on her lips, her eyes shining with hope, love and forgiveness.

She's nothing like the woman sitting across the bed next to Henry, a hand covering Regina's knee, rubbing absentmindedly, staring at the unconscious woman as if she could wake her up with the intensity of her sight.

He knows she's feeling at least as guilty as he does. She's known Regina the longest. Despite their history, she's come to understand her former step mother at a level very few of them can pretend to reach. Somewhere, deep down, she must have known that Regina would never have left without Henry, without telling him, without a fight, without an _explanation_.

When Robin looks at her, he can see the fear in her eyes. _Fear_ , that Regina might not come back from this. Fear, that even if she does, she won't be able to forgive them. To forgive  _her_. _Doubts_ , that this might break her more than she already was, that she would push them away for good.

But he also sees her determination. Her _hope_ that she's going to get better. The almost certainty, that after everything Regina went through, she won't give up so easily, she won't give up on _life_ , not now that she's so close to finally be happy. The _promise_ , that no matter what, she will always be here for her step mother, will never again fail her the way she already did, so many times.

Because despite what everyone thinks, despite what the Evil Queen has done, despite the murders and slaughters, the threats, the tortures, the lifeless bodies abandoned by dozen in the middle of the forest, one of the reasons Regina became who she became was that no one, _ever_ , has been there for her, truly _cared_ for her.

She suffered an abusive mother and a father too weak to protect her.

She mourned Daniel alone, hiding the secret from everyone for years.

She married a man so eager to be a good King and a good father that he forgot to be a husband, and never noticed the woman standing next to him on the throne and her misery.

She faced the reason of her lover's death everyday, forced to be kind and loving, forced to pretend she wasn't wrecking on this inside.

She met a demon who did nothing but using her for his own purpose, never once caring about her well being.

She lived alone in a mansion for years, until the light of her life, _her son_ , appeared and eased her pain for a while.

She was pushed away and rejected by said son, treated like she's been nothing to him but a stranger hosting him for the first ten years of his life.

She's been replaced in her son's heart by the very woman who broke what she thought was her happy ending.

She's been misunderstood and unfairly accused of murder while she was nothing but innocent and penitent.

She's been forced to abandon the person she loved the most to go back somewhere she hated, forced to deal with an unwelcomed and crazy sister ready to destroy her a little bit much. As if there was more to destroy.

She's been forced to face her son for weeks, to pretend she didn't know him, didn't love him, didn't crave of holding him tight and never let go.

She's been the one to vanquish many threats -the destruction of the town, Pan's curse, Zelena's spell- and never once has been rewarded or thanked, not even by the very people who call themselves her family and friends.

She's seen her newfound happiness destroyed again by the very person she'd started to think as an ally, and has been ripped away from the man she'd finally let herself open up to.

If Regina came back from all of that, if she managed to find redemption and love after everything she did and went through, then she _will_ find a way to wake up. There’s nothing less sure in Snow's mind.

xxx

“Hey kid, are you hungry? I brought you a burger from Grannys.”

Emma walks into the room, nods at Robin what's meant to be a hello, then hands the sandwich to her son. He absentmindedly grabs it, mutters a  _thank you_  and drops it on the tray next to him, still not looking away from his mother's inert body.

Emma meets Robin on the other side of the bed, gives him his own sandwich and gestures for him to follow her outside.

The minute he's up, he stirs, his whole body numb from staying in the same position all day. He follows the woman in the hallway, both of them glancing at Regina, still unconscious, on his way out.

Emma hasn't spent much time at the hospital. She prefers to track the witch and try to come up with a good plan to protect Regina and everyone else, but she hasn't gotten a lot of success yet. He witnesses her frustration whenever she comes by to bring them food, news or pick up Henry at the end of the day to go back home to sleep. She's feeling powerless, and, as probably everyone else in town right now, _guilty_. But she doesn’t talk about it. Instead, she focuses all of her energy on finding the responsible for Regina's condition and a way to bring her down once and for all.

“I spoke with Whale.” Emma says warily once they're out of the room and away from Henry's earshot.

Robin's face falls immediately. He’s well aware of what the doctor thinks. It's been a week, and still no improvement. The chances of Regina waking up are fading away.

“I refuse to believe it's too late. Regina is the strongest woman I've ever met. She was conscious when we found her. She won't give up without a fight. She just needs time.”

“I know, and I agree.” She shrugs. “But she already fought, _hard_ , probably more than we can imagine, to get out of there alive.”

Robin sighs, shaking his head, refusing to accept what she’s telling him. When she brings a hand to his arm, she’s looking at him with nothing but compassion and understanding.

“Look, she indeed is the most stubborn, strong and insufferable woman I know.” A smile tips a corner of his mouth up. Emma’s not entirely wrong. “And I still have hope that she'll come back from whatever hell she's been through. _But,_ I also think that we should prepare ourselves to the idea that she might not...”

At the exact same moment, a sound coming from the bedroom cuts her off, catching their attention. They barely have time to step into the room that Henry's hopeful voice is asking,

“Mom? Mom? Mom, it's me! Do you hear me?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming next : The last week of Regina's captivity and the continuation of the last scene of this chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

Regina, Last week in captivity

Her body is numb. Every movement, every breath, is a torture. She doesn't have the strength to move anymore, barely eats the pieces of bread her sister gives her, because just the idea of trying to bite in the hard dough hurts.

She keeps seeing her loved-ones through the mirror, but her vision is blurred. She can't stay focus anymore. Her mind is shutting down, her whole body is failing. She must spend most her time sleeping -or in a state between sleep and consciousness at least- only awakes during her sister's visits, when she's forced to suffer her endless speeches about her perfect life or endure her wrath on the bad days -well, is there even good days anymore ?

She doesn't move from her laid down position on the floor now, her head pillowed on her free arm, the one that doesn't hurt like hell, that doesn't feel like her skin is burning, twisting and slowly dying. She doesn’t even try to sit anymore, only changes her position when necessary, when the cramps are too strong to be ignored.

Sometimes, she wishes for death to take her. Sometimes, she wishes for this to come to an end.

But then, she remembers.

Henry, Roland, Snow and Robin, even Emma and David.

She thinks of them, of everything they've been through together, from Daniel's death to that fateful night at Grannys, from Henry's adoption to the day she let him go at the town line, from Emma's arrival in Storybrooke to Neverland, from her first attempts at redemption to the missing year in the Enchanted Forest.

They are the only reason she hasn’t given up yet. This small, really small, _tiny_ light at the end of the tunnel is the last piece of hope she has left. She can almost hear it sometimes, a soft voice telling her to fight, feel arms wrapping around her, see a wide smile lightening the darkness that became her every day. In these moments, she falls asleep with her son's name on her lips, praying the Gods from all the realms and religions to give her the chance to hold him one last time.

But despite all her efforts, all her good will, she can't fight the inevitable.

She's sick.

She knows she is, she can _feel_ it. She started coughing a while ago, and it only got worse, aggravating her already sore and probably broken ribs, her weak body. She's shivering more and more often, the violence of the fever sometimes startling her and waking her up from her restless sleep. She's cold, can't manage to warm herself up, not there, not when she's lying in dirty and muddy water. She tried several times to change of spot, find a drier place, but the chains are definitely too short, and she curses under her breath because she knows that's exactly what Zelena had planned.

Speaking of the devil...

She's drifting in a state just above sleep, but manages to hear footsteps, louder than usual, and she frowns -or at least, tries to, most of the time her body refuses to listen to her- because it doesn't look like her sister.

And then she's wide awake. There's voices.  _Several_  voices.

They're just above her, and she wants to scream, to warn them that she’s here, but she's too weak, and she hasn't speak in days. Her mouth is dry and her attempts vain. They can’t hear her anyway, so why bothering to try?

But there's a bang, and then light. Blinding light. Someone calling her name -or so she thinks- and running to her. She tries to rise on her elbow, but fails and falls. But instead of hitting the ground, this time she lands in someone’s arms, and she feels the human warm she's been deprived for so long _finally_ surrounding her. She's not sure of who's holding her, she can't even open her eyes to look at them, but she knows that she's safe.

And for the first time in weeks, she lets go.

* * *

 

Present day

Within a few minutes, the room is full with Robin, Emma, Henry, Whale and a nurse.

The doctor is bent over Regina, who's waking up slowly. Her eyes are still closed, and she's wincing, whimpering, tries to move her arms but she's too weak and all the perfusions are hampering her movements. She ends up losing the battle, both arms falling back against the softness of the mattress.

“Regina? Regina, can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you do.” When she responds to his request, a smile lights up Whale's face. “Good. Take your time, there's no rush. Everything is fine, you're at the hospital.”

He keeps talking to her, keeps guiding her journey from the limbo to the living world, and a few seconds later her lashes flutter open and she groans as the blinding light enters her vision. Her eyes snap shut immediately, but she tries again, and this time blinks a few times before finally meeting Victor's smile.

“Welcome back.”

The moment he speaks, Henry rushes by his mother side, grabs her hand and calls her. Regina looks at him, and it takes her a second to realize _who_ is in front of her. He knows the exact moment she recognizes him, because her eyes swell up with tears, tears that she lets fall, because she probably thought she’d never see him again.

He blinks back his own tears, his mother needs support and he'll do whatever she needs to help her feel better. He smiles broadly, clutches to her hand, lets the emotion wash over him and leans in to pull her into an embrace. She doesn't respond, probably because she doesn’t have enough strength yet, but he feels her squeeze his hand tightly and her nose nuzzle his neck, breathing him in, both sharing a relieved and content sigh as they're _finally_ reunited.

When he pulls back, he's beaming at her, and she may not be able to do the same, but despite her obvious exhaustion, her eyes are telling him everything he needs to know. He reads the depth of her love for him. The pain of being away for so long. The happiness of being back, of seeing him. The frustration of not being able to take his face in her hands and drops a hundred kisses on his cheeks.

So he tells her that it's okay, she's going to be okay now, they're here, she's safe, she came back, he loves her, he's going to take care of her.

She tries to speak but nothing comes out. She coughs once, twice, a third time, her body shaking violently each time, making her wince and let out a small whimper again, until Whale asks Henry, Emma and Robin to wait outside for a few minutes, the time for him to do a check up on his patient.

Henry is reluctant to leave his mother now that he got her back, but Regina smiles softly at him, nods, as if to say  _I'm fine, you can go. I'll see you in a minute_. So he follows Emma when she leads him outside.

It takes one second. In one second, he bursts into tears, accepts Emma's shoulder and embrace to cry his fear and relief, his body shuddering with every sob taking him.

Robin leans against the wall, sliding to the floor, face in hands, fighting his own tears. His heart is leaping with joy, but all the anxiety, the fear, the uncertainty he's been full of over the last week, are all coming back at him in waves. What would he have done if she hadn’t woken up?

He's also -he still struggles to admit it- afraid she might reject him. He's not sure of what she knows about his life with Marian -well, Zelena, better start to call her by her real name- but he has a pretty good feeling the witch didn't spare her sister any detail of her fake marital life.

Whale exits the room, requesting not to bother Regina for too long, she's still exhausted, and she can't speak yet, her throat is too swollen and sore from the intubation and the lack of use. He’s well aware that they won't leave her side, they can't anyway, not with Zelena still out there, not now that they got her back, but he tells them not to ask too many questions, to let her sleep when she needs too. He still has to check up on her regularly, and she won't leave the hospital anytime soon, but so far, she seems fine.

Robin gets up warily, and when he finally enters the room, Henry and Emma are already by her side. He stays at the entrance, resting against the doorframe, just looking at her, her beautiful radiant face and smile. Even through her tiredness and soreness, she stays the most stunning and breathtaking woman he's ever seen.

He doesn't dare step inside, not quite yet, just observes her in silence nod to her son and Emma, smile at them. They're on the other side of the bed, so while she looks at them she can't see him. But soon, Emma tilts her head towards him with a small smile, and Regina turns her head, spots him. His heart clenches in his chest, beats faster, louder, when for a few seconds, they just look at each other, lose themselves in a moment that's just theirs, forget about everything around -Henry, Emma, the beeping machines, the pain, the fear, Zelena, the weeks apart, the diner's night-

And then he feels butterflies grow in his body, relief and happiness striking him with so much force he thinks he will faint from the overwhelming emotions.

She's _smiling_ at him.

Truly, deeply, smiling. She opens her hand for him, tilting her head to motion for him to enter the room, silently begging him to join her. He takes three large steps, grabs her hand, closes his eyes because even that simple contact is too much for him to deal with right now. He leans forward, his lips landing on her forehead, lingering there, kissing again and again, each one meant to settle, to reassure, to soothe. Who? He's not sure.

When he recedes, she's looking at him right in the eyes, and hers are shining with all those unspoken feelings hanging upon them and that they're not reading to voice yet. He doesn't say a word, doesn't care if Henry and Emma are just next to them. He brings his free hand to her face, the other still safely tucked in hers, caresses her cheek, leans his forehead against hers, before pressing his lips to hers and forgetting about everything around.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Regina is awake ;-) I can almost hear some of you scream "Finally!!!" XD The part about the cellar from Regina's POV is over.
> 
> In the next chapter, the first part will show Zelena's POV (whom we'll follow for the next three chapters, explaining how she lived of those five weeks and how she's handling the new situation). The second part will be a hundred percent RegalBeliever scene at the hospital. Yayy!


	9. Chapter 9

2 days after Zelena was unmasked

Zelena lets out a frustrated groan, her fist crashing on the table.

They found her!

Her little snoop and stupid boyfriend managed to figure out where Regina was hidden, and now that bitch must be surrounded by all that disgusting love and sentimentalism Zelena, on the other hand, barely got the chance to taste.

She'll make her pay for that. No! Them! She'll make them pay! She'll find a way. She will strike harder than she ever did, and this time she's not just bringing Regina down, but her whole bunch of heroes too.

Zelena gets up, paces for a few minutes, her mind still fuzzy from the anger and frustration. She tries to calm down, to come back to her senses. Acting on impulse won’t lead her anywhere. She's safe for now. She’s found the perfect place to hide, an abandoned house in town, not too exposed to be noticed, but not too isolated either. She can spy on them through the window, has a full view over main street, without being spotted. So she has time. Time to regroup, to think, to plan.

Her plan was so perfect. The moment Robin had brought his dear wife back to the camp, Zelena knew she had to act quickly. She had poured a glass of water for both of them, emptied a small vial of liquid in her 'husband's' glass while no one was watching. Barely five minutes later, he was already yawning, eyelids heavy, and they had walked to his tent, where she lied against his side, head pillowed against his shoulder, his arms shyly circling her waist. When she had been sure he was sound asleep, she transported herself in Regina's mansion, careful not to appear in any place her sister could've been. And then she had waited for Regina to come to her. She didn't have to wait too long, because soon she heard Regina exit her office and wander in her house to turn off the lights.

Meanwhile, Zelena was hidden in a corner, ready to strike. And as soon as Regina spotted her, she did.

Once in the cellar, she had snapped her fingers, magical chains appearing at her feet. She had spent months creating them back in Oz, when she was already working on her revenge against her sister. She'd been careful and very specific with it. It was made of real chains, thick enough that it couldn’t be broken or opened with bare hands. The inside part of the two cuffs made for an ankle and a wrist were wearing small spikes, digging in the flesh of the prisoner, and draining his magic little by little everyday. And at any attempt to run away, it was not only restraining him violently, but also digging deeper into the flesh, preventing any further tentative.

And in case Regina was to escape, it would take weeks for her magic to fully return, rendering her powerless and giving Zelena time to go after her and end her miserable life.

After making sure Regina was exactly where she wanted her -in the wettest and coldest place of the room, to remove all the comfort her sister had always known and been blessed with, Zelena had gone back to her mansion, magically removing every single clothe, shoe, jewel, or item belonging to her sister. She took care of her car too. She'd spotted an abandoned cabin at the edge of the town in which she sent all of her sister's things, before placing a cloaking spell around it so no one would noticed it should they approach too closely.

Still at the mansion, she had started writing a letter meant for Henry -she knew her sister loved that boy too much to leave without a word for him, explaining the reasons of his mother's sudden disappearance. To be sure Regina’s son wouldn’t see a difference in the handwriting, Zelena had used her magic to write her letter with the same handwriting she found in the pile of Regina’s files in her office at home.

Once it was done, she had dropped the letter on the bed of the main bedroom, and started to walk to the door, when she noticed something that could just add to her plan: A set of key that could, if It was what she expected, only make her plan better. She grabbed them and appeared in front of the Mayor's office. When she heard a click confirming the match, she mentally screamed in victory. She had magically sent the key on the desk, they would think Regina left them to whoever was going to take her place. When Zelena had glanced at the clock in the hallway, she froze. 3.14am. She needed to get back to the camp if she wanted to sleep a little and pretend she never left Robin's side when he’ll wake up.

But now, it’s all ruined, and Zelena has to think of a new plan. A thousand ideas are swirling in her head, but she has to pick the right one, the one that will not only make Regina pay but all the others as well. That’s the hardest part. She thinks of every item she created back in Oz to make her sister suffer but never used. She mentally scrolls through the list, until she finds it. A wicked and sadistic smile lights up her face.

She knows exactly what to do...

* * *

 

5 days after Regina woke up

Henry is sitting on a chair by her side, looking at her with bright and shining eyes, and she can't help but bring a hand through his hair, stroking slowly, smiling deeply. She missed him so much. She loves him so much. Never see his face again except through a mirror glass was her deepest fear during her weeks locked up, stronger than death itself.

Since she awoke, he has barely left her side, barely released her hand, barely taken his eyes off of her, leaving as late as he could on evenings and being the first one to knock at her door on mornings. Regina isn’t blind, she can see how much he worried, how much he feared he too would never see her. If only she could wipe his fear away, remove the doubts and give him nothing but love, tenderness, care, safety. If only she could promise him that she will never disappear again, assure him that she's fine now, that he needn't worry anymore.

But she spoke with Emma and David. Regina knows her sister is on the run. She knows Zelena will never rest until she gets her revenge. And she guesses she must be fuming with rage over her failure.

With that thought in mind, Regina can't truly bring herself to fully relax and drop her guard. She's been out of coma for five days, and she's still exhausted, weak, sore, heavily medicated, and definitely not ready for a fight.

Emma told her that she has trained with magic, but without her guidance or Rumpelstiltskin's, Regina's not sure she's done much progress. And with her former mentor not that eager to help in the search for the witch, Regina is the most liable to confront her sister when the time comes.

Truth be told, it's her fight. Not Emma's. Not Rumple's. Hers. And in full honesty, she can't wait to finally end this madness. She offered Zelena a second chance, and her sister turned it down. So no matter what, with everything she just put her through, there will be no forgiveness anymore. No more chances. No more deals. She will bring her sister down, even if she has to pay the ultimate price to succeed.

“Mom, you're not listening!”

Regina blinks twice, coming back from her thoughts. “Hmm? I'm sorry, what were you saying, honey?”

Henry gives her a doubtful look, cocks his head and frowns. He's studying her, trying to find flaws in the mask she manages to keep on when he's here, the mask that will not show him how broken and hurt she is inside. She didn't tell him what she went through. She won't. She hasn't told anyone yet, and maybe she will at some point, but she'll make sure that Henry never finds out.

He asked though, questioned her with eyes filled with concern and apprehension. She stayed silent at first, unsure about what to say, not quite expecting the question yet, not ready to talk about it. “I do believe this is not your place to care about that, Henry.” she'd finally said with a soft but still raspy voice and a weak smile, her finger tracing the outline of his jaw with affection. He protested, assured her it was his place, she's his mom after all, but she stood firm. At some point, he just gave up, and focused on the present moment, on having her back, and they never brought the subject up again.

“Maybe you should rest.” Henry concludes, his observation apparently over. “You look tired.”

Regina chuckles, her soft gaze landing on him. “Is that my private doctor's recommendation?” she teases.

Henry's concerned face turns into a wide smile, and he plays along. “Yes it is. Come on!” he urges, pulling the cover up over her body “I'll watch over you.”

“Actually,” Regina protests, knowing that Henry won't like it and there's a few chances that this conversation ends up in a fight. “I think you should go home.”

Henry's brow shoots up in surprise, and he straightens in his seat, taken aback by her request, and quite determined not to leave her side for a second. “What? No, mom, I-”

“You need to spend some time outside this hospital, honey, other than just for sleep. I understand that you want to be here for me, and I appreciate that more than you can imagine. But you need to go home, and let others take care of you for a few hours. You also have to go back to school.” she adds with a pointed look, not calling for an argument, because Emma sheepishly confessed Henry stubbornly refused to set a foot back there since they found her almost two weeks ago. “You can come back later.”

“I won't leave you.” he protests, crossing his arms on his chest, leaning against the back of his chair and rooting himself there.

“Henry!” she warns in a firm voice. “I may be stuck in a hospital bed for now, but I'm still your mother, so you will listen to me. Go home, and let your grandmother or Emma take care of you! I'm going to sleep anyway, so there's no point for you to stay here.”

“But…”

“No but! I believe David is the one standing guard outside my room right now, so you go to him, and ask to be driven to the loft.”

“If he leaves, there will be no one to protect you.” Henry argues.

“I'll be fine, don't worry. And I could use some time alone to be honest.”

Her voice is softer, no longer scolding, her gaze sweet and loving, comprehensive of her son's need to protect her, but also filled with her own need to feel that she's still his mother and a well-capable grown-up, not just a invalid everyone made their duty to overprotect.

And she's reluctant to let him near when she's sleeping. She's been having nightmares. Flashes of her five weeks underground keep assaulting her anytime she drops her guard, melting with old and painful memories. She refuses to let Henry see her like that, so vulnerable, so frightened, so weak. He's been here once, and she remembers how shocked he'd been, his wide eyes, pale face. There is no way she’ll let that happen again.

He's still looking at her hesitantly, not quite ready to push her limits because he knows pretty well how she reacts when he oversteps, but not comfortable enough with the idea of leaving her alone, even for a short time. She can read his conflict in his brown eyes, so she beckons for him to sit on the bed next to her, brings her hand up to cup his cheek, and leans forward, struggling to hide the pain her broken ribs keep sending through her body with every movement.

“I love you.” she whispers so only he can hears.

He drops his gaze for a second, but when he looks at her again, he's smiling. It's a weak smile, defeated, because he knows she won, and there is nothing but sincerity when he answers “I love you too, mom.” And then adds, “I just don't want to lose you again.” he finally admits.

Regina fights an unexpected wave of tears, and she ignores her sore body when she sits fully and brings her son to her chest, smiling as his arms wrap around her body carefully enough not to harm her, his face buried in her neck.

“You won't, Henry. I'm not going anywhere. I promise.”

He recedes, looks at her with unshed tears in his eyes. He wants to believe her, but he's still afraid, the image of her liveless bruised and broken body still fresh in his mind. He rests his forehead against hers, closes his eyes, just feels, lets her warm love and tender touch surround him and ease some of his fears away.

She drops a kiss to his brow, strokes his cheek one last time, and urges him toward the exit with a smile.

“Go.” she orders gently. “I'll be right here when you come back.”

With a last wave of his hand and a still not convinced smile, he leaves.

Regina falls back against the pillow, groans when she lands with a little more force than planned, the strong wave of pain invading her body a strong reminder of her condition. She closes her eyes, and slows her breathing. Henry was right, she's exhausted. In mere minutes, she's already sound asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will mostly focus on the consequences of Regina seeing Marian/Zelena with Robin through the mirror, from the three protagonists' POV, although it won't be the only subject of Zelena's part. As for OQ, a scene will be dedicated to them, where a honest talk will take place.
> 
> Hope to see you there!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since on Ao3 I can apparently post from my phone, here’s chapter 10 for you!  
> I apologize in advance for all the mistakes I made with verbs. I suck at it, and I swear I did my best, but it confuses me to the highest level and I never quite succeeded to master them. Again, sorry ;-(
> 
> If I’m lucky it won’t completely ruin the chapter and you’ll appreciate it anyway!

A week after Zelena was unmasked

 

While she's secretly turning her new plan into reality, Zelena can't help loneliness to wash over her again. It's a feeling she grew up with, but she'd managed to put it aside and almost forget about it for the last few weeks. She tries to focus on her task, but eventually, loses the fight against her traitorous mind, the images assaulting her and hitting her hard.  
  
Although she's not a fan of Robin's way of life, she somehow enjoyed their time together. It felt good, being loved and taken care of.   
  
Oh, she's no fool. She didn't fall for the man, she never could have. Love is  _weakness_ , the reason she got to her sister this time. However, it was nice not to be hated, not to be seen as a monster but as a person, a  _woman_. And yes, the sex was great! Of course, it wasn't her first time, but she'd never been treasured and cherished the way Robin did. It was a whole new experience, and the pleasure that usually comes with it had only been incredibly more intense.   
  
Sometimes -most the time to be honest, she felt that something was bothering him, as if she wasn't quite the person he truly wanted to make love to. And she knew exactly _who_ he wanted. That knowledge only increased her satisfaction. Robin was a handsome man, but she didn't care for him. Nor for his little brat so eager to call her  _mama_ and spend time with her.   
  
She's never been the maternal type, has never been good with children. She only suffered the boy because he was a part of her plan.   
  
Until  _that_ day, when things started to change.   
  
Roland had spent his day following her around, everywhere, all the time. At first, she answered his need to be with her. But at some point, after hours of longing for some time alone, she had just lost it. She had found herself yelling at the boy, screaming that he let her be for at least five minutes, or better, a full hour! The cry baby started to sob, his lower lip trembling with the surprise of being scolded so vigorously, drawing the attention of Robin and some Merry Men who asked her why she was acting of the sort.   
  
She had tried to apologize, give a coherent explanation, but Robin had just crouched in front of his son, cradling his small body in his arms, soothing him with sweet words and touch. He had just glared at her, and turned his back on her, ignoring her for the rest of the afternoon.   
  
Later, that night, after Roland had been safely tucked in, Robin walked inside their tent where she stayed hidden the rest of the day, not quite sure how to handle the situation. After all, she's never been married before.   
  
He was mad at her, that much was obvious. He had told her that there was no reason she would yelled at their son like that, that she couldn't reproach him to want to catch up on time they never had the opportunity to share. He had barely let her justify herself, finishing with a “I don't know who you've become, but I don't recognize you anymore. Sometimes I wonder if this” his hand had moved back and forth between them, “was not a mistake.” that had her gut twist with fear. She had stepped out of the tent, claiming that she needed some air, and walked through the forest, straight to the storm cellar where she was keeping her sister.   
  
Robin didn't need to pronounce  _her_ name. Zelena knew exactly to what and whom he was referring to when he spoke about making a mistake. Regina was still deeply rooted in his mind, and in Roland's too. Zelena had sometimes heard the boy asking his father why she wasn't around anymore. The pain on Robin's face in those moments was clear, and his explanations always vague.   
  
No matter how hard Zelena had tried to be enough, her damn sister's ghost was still hanging upon her head, a constant reminder that Regina had always been blessed with more than what Zelena could ever hope for.   
  
She never planned to be physically violent towards Regina, her only goal was to break her mind and destroy her every hope at a happy ending. But that night, all her jealousy, her frustration, all of those unspoken and hidden feelings Zelena experienced during her life, they screamed at her to make the responsible for her misery pay. And after half an hour of torturing her sister, she admitted that she was feeling much better.   
  
So that was it. Her new outlet. She'd just found the perfect way to calm her bad mood and short temper, and no matter if she witness her sister weakening day after day.  _She_ was feeling much better, and if Regina had to pay the ultimate price for that, so be it.

 

* * *

 

Present

 

She awoke two weeks ago, yet her magic still hasn't returned fully. Regina is frustrated, wonders what is taking so much time, insists and tries to make it work, but she only managed the simplest spells for now.  
  
Rumple came by one day, and when she asked him he simply replied that her body was probably still healing and the process was taking all her energy, so she didn't have any left to work on getting her magic back. But she needn't worry, it would come back, given time and rest.  
  
So instead, Regina focuses on something else. Her physical recovery.  
  
Two days after she had woken up, Whale gave Regina the clearance to get up. She was waiting for nothing more, couldn’t wait to stretch her leg and get out of her bed. They were careful,  _too_   _careful_ , she thought. They wanted her to take her time, claiming that she was still weak, but stubborn as she is, she didn’t listen.  
  
She nearly fell the first time, one of the nurses caught her just in time. Her legs were shaking, weak and throbbing under her weight. She barely remembered the last time she'd been walking.  _Hell_ , she barely remembered the last time she'd been  _standing_! She spent so much time -5 weeks, they told her- sitting or laying down on the ground, and then another week in this  _damn_  hospital bed, it felt like a lifetime ago.  
  
She had asked everyone to get out -Snow, Henry, Robin, Emma..., unwilling to let them see her like that, with a nurse on each side of her, holding her arms, guiding every step, congratulating her.  
  
She rolled her eyes, struggling with the situation. She felt like she was back into her castle during her first years as Queen, when she could not even remove her clothes or brush her hair on her own. When there were servants and maids everywhere eager to help her doing the most basic acts of daily life.  
  
But somehow, Regina knew the situation was different. And this time, she had to admit she needed their help. So she had let them. Gritted her teeth, but mouthed no word.  
  
After three days, she was steadier, almost able to make a few steps on her own.

Now, a week later, she’s not as solid as she wants to be, but she manages to walk for a small while with Robin or Snow in the hallway, always really early or late, when no one is there, when no one is watching.  
  
Whale claims that she needs mostly to rest, but she's not the easiest patient, and she enjoys that small part of recovered freedom too much to really listen to his advices. Deep down, she knows he's right. Everytime she comes back to her bed after a walk, she's so exhausted she falls asleep almost instantly.   
  
Her friends noticed how difficult it is for her to be confined inside the hospital, and they're still worried about Zelena trying to get to her sister while she's recovering. So they come in turns, making sure Regina is never alone, day and night. Robin and Henry are here every day, but she receives visits from Snow and baby Neal, David, Emma and Hook, Robin's men, even Ruby, after the two women silently decided to bury the hatchet. And despite he knowledge that it won’t probably not be enough in front of Zelena, someone is constantly standing guard outside her room.   
  
She even saw Roland yesterday! The boy was so shy that she had stopped herself from jumping off her bed and run to him. She needn't do that though, because his shyness lasted less than a minute, and soon, he was sitting on her lap, talking animatedly with her, asking a million questions, cuddling in her embrace under Robin's loving gaze.   
  
Robin, who's been acting sheepishly, as if he needed to be forgiven for his actions.   
  
He's been this way since she woke up, despite the smiles she was giving him, despite the lack of resentment in her behavior towards him.   
  
It had gotten worse a week after she awoke.   
  
They were alone, door closed, and just talking about their sons, and he wasn't on a chair but sitting on the bed by her side. At some point, slowly, waiting for her approval before moving closer, he leaned down, and kissed her. They had kissed before since she woke up from her coma, but it was always chaste and shy, none of them ready to state where they stood after the last months.

  
But this time was different. This time, he deepened the kiss, and she brought him closer, winding her arms around his neck, sighing contently against his mouth. She had missed him so much, it felt like heaven. His hand currently stroking her hip gently moved under her blouse, and he began to caress the soft skin of her belly, a gentle touch, a soft brush, soothing the still sensitive flesh with his fingers.   
  
Regina knew it wouldn't lead to actual sex, it was still too soon, and they were not ready, it also wasn't the proper place. But as he kept moving up, up, up, an uncomfortable feeling began to settle inside her, growing stronger with every second and every inch of skin Robin was reaching. Images started to assault her, and she struggled to keep control over them. She tried not to squirm under his touch, instead focused on the goose bumps flaring all over her skin, the butterflies in her belly, on how much she wanted him to do just what he was doing, and even more.

 

But when he reached the cup of her breast, she stiffened, unable to bear this contradiction of feelings much longer, breaking the kiss and pushing away his hand gently, looking everywhere but at him, guilt, shame and embarrassment washing over her.  
  
She awkwardly muttered that she was still feeling a bit sore, and tired, and maybe now wasn't a good time for  _that_ , and despite the pain and heartbreak she read in his blue eyes, he nodded, and never touched her this way again.   
  
Regina felt guilty about hiding the truth from him, but no matter how much she wanted him, she wasn't ready yet. It wasn't until a few days later that the opportunity to have a real conversation about the situation occurred. This time, they did what they had both avoided since the beginning. They talked. They  _really_ talked.   
  
She remembers as if it was yesterday.

  
3 days before 

 

He's on a seat by her bed, wearing a weak and absent smile, his gaze empty, fixed on her hand that he's holding and stroking slightly, barely listening to what Emma is saying. At some point, the blonde woman notices, and excuses herself, claims that she has to check on the hospital security. However, her pointed glance at Robin on her way out was enough to make Regina understand the real reason behind her sudden departure.  
  
“I think we should talk.” Regina announces, breaking the silence and catching Robin’s attention.   
  
He snaps back from his thoughts, and his face falls, guilt and anxiety washing over it again, but Regina wants none of that. She brings a hand to his cheek, cups his chin to guide his look to hers, and smiles.   
  
“I think  _you_ need to talk.” she corrects. “What's going on, Robin? And don't tell me nothing!” she warns as he’s about to protest. “You've been acting strange since the day I awoke from coma. Talk to me!  _Please_!”

  
He sighs, squeezes her hand tighter, intertwining their fingers, bringing them to his mouth and kissing every one of her knuckles.   
  
“I'm sorry.” he breathes. She doesn't answer, her eyes an invitation to continue. “I failed you, Regina. Twice.  _Hell_ , even  _three_ times, when you think about it!”

With that he pulls suddenly, her hand falling flat on the mattress when he releases her, frustrated, angry at himself. Regina doesn't understand, so she cocks her head in question, looking at him in confusion.  
  
“What do you mean?”

  
“I let the Dark One take your heart, that day in the forest…” Robin begins but she cuts him by raising her hand.   
  
“I never hold any grudge on you for that. Roland's life was at stake, you did the right thing.”

  
“Maybe I did that day, but since…” He drops his head again, pinches his nose and Regina just waits, gives him the time he needs. “I was choosing  _her_ , Regina.” he finally admits, looking up at her guiltily.

“On the day you disappeared, I tried to come to you to tell you that I was choosing her. And when I didn't find you, I... I was almost relieved, because I didn't need to confront you about it. But then, Henry came to find me, saying you left town, and he didn't believe it, he thought I was responsible for you hiding out somewhere in Storybrooke. He believed in you, Regina. He believed you didn't abandon him, us,  _me_.” he breathes, his voice breaking with every word, with every admission of his cowardice and mistakes. “When all I did was turning back to my life with Mar…” He stops then, finding himself incapable to pronounce her name.   
  
Regina leans forward, grabbing his hands and bringing them to her lap, forcing him to look up at her, forcing him to move closer so she won't have to speak too loud and he won't be able to escape the conversation.   
  
“I knew, Robin, that you would choose her.”

 

He frowns, confused, and she smiles softly, eyes bright with unshed tears. She swallows hard, but keeps going. This has to come out if they want their relationship to ever go somewhere.

 

“You were in an impossible situation, and it was the right thing to do. I understand. I don't blame you for choosing…” She can't say it either, so she corrects. “For not choosing me.”

  
She doesn't mention why. She doesn't explain that she thought everyone would be a better choice than her. It wouldn't help any of them, and given the recents events, Regina believes that there  _is_ someone worse than her.   
  
“But I abandoned you.” Robin argues. “I never searched you. Everything you went through…” he shakes his head. “I mean, I don't even know what you endured, but I could have done something. I could have stopped her.”   
  
“And facing her on your own would have put you and Roland in danger! Robin…”

 

It's Regina’s turn to sigh, wincing as the pain of staying sit on her own starts to make itself remember. He reaches for her but she shakes her head to stop him.

 

“I won’t lie to you. Even after we defeated her -because  _we will_!” she adds, looking at him with so much determination in her eyes she reminds him of the Queen he met back in the Enchanted Forest. “I'm not sure things will get back to the way they were between us” Hurt flashes in his eyes so she hurries to continue. “At first!”

 

And now he looks so confused that Regina decides she owes him an explanation, though she didn't plan to tell him and she's very well aware that this might hurt him more than comfort him right now.  
  
She takes a deep breath, stares at their linked hands, and starts.

 

“While she kept me prisoner, Zelena made sure that I witnessed how everyone was letting me down, how  _you._ Henry, Snow, Emma and everyone else, were living your lives as if I had never existed. In order to do that, she hanged a magical mirror on a wall, and sometimes, it was turning on, showing me happy moments you all spent without me. I know she was carefully choosing the ones to show me. I know because…”

 

She pauses, watches him tense as he seems to understand where this is going. “She made a point to show me every moment the two of you were spending together.  _Every_ moment.” She repeats, tugging at the word and his hand.

 

Robin's eyes widen in horror and he pulls back, breaking physical contact, getting up and turning his back on her, a hand over his face.  
  
Regina doesn't speak, she just leans back against the cushions, fighting her exhaustion as well as giving him time to process the revelation. This is a lot to take in, but voicing it has actually lessened the weigh on her chest. Plus, she needs Robin to understand why the last time he tried to touch her, she couldn't bare it, and once this hell will be over and they will be together, alone, and will want to move forward, she’ll need some time.   
  
Robin turns towards her, as if about to speak, then stops, finally looks up at her, then down again and she notices a tear rolling down his cheek. She holds her hand for him, and he stares at it hesitatingly, finally grabs it, lets her guide him to take a place on the bed next to her.   
  
“I'm sorry, Robin. I didn't want you to feel bad about it. I just... I just needed you to…”

  
“Is this why you…” he interrupts slowly, brow still furrowed and gaze fixed on the mattress. “The other day, when you pushed me away, was it-”

  
“Yes.” she cuts softly, just admitting the truth. “I…”

  
He doesn't let her time to finish, just pulls her in an embrace, his face buried in her neck. Her free hand lands in his hair, and she tries to soothe his pain as she feels him clutch to her like his life depended on it.   
  
When he finally calms down, she lets him pull back, looking at him softly, nothing but kindness and understanding in her eyes, while his are filled with pain, guilt and unshed tears.   
  
“I'm so sorry, Regina.”

  
“It wasn't your fault.”   
  
“But-” 

 

“It wasn't your fault, Robin!” she insists, firmly but gently. “I'm still here, and…” She pauses, makes sure to never break eye-contact when she admits. “I want to be with you.” His whole face lights up, relief as well as astonishment washing over it. “That is, if you still want to be with me.” she breathes shyly, looking away.  
  
He catches her chin and tilts it up. “ _Of course_ I do! There's nothing I want more than being with you, Regina!” he assures.   
  
She smiles sheepishly, unable to suppress some of the joy and relief his admission triggered in her. But then she clears her throat, her voice still low as her tone grows more serious.

 

“I just wanted you to know that, for some time, I'm not sure I will be able to be…” she struggles with the word, then finally lets out. “ _intimate_ with you.”

 

He acknowledges and accepts her admission with a silent nod.

 

“I tried,” Regina continues, “and I really wanted to but... I think I need to get rid of those images first.” she snorts, looking away again, missing his winces.  
  
“Can we just…” Robin stops, wait until her eyes meet his again. “not talk about it, anymore? If that’s okay with you of course.”   
  
“Believe me, it's  _more_ than okay.” she replies with a bitter chuckle.   
  
“Good. I think I'll need time to forget too.” he admits.

Realization dawns upon her, and Regina brings a hand to cup his cheek.  
  
“I'm sorry.” He raises an eyebrow in question, so Regina explains. “Sometimes, I forget that she hurt you too.”   
  
He looks at her with nothing but love in his eyes, before leaning forward, pressing a sweet and slow kiss to her lips, lingering without asking for more, a hand settling behind her head to bring her closer while she tugs at his shirt, answering his kiss with a low moan. He pulls back just enough to press his forehead to hers, and confesses, “I missed you.”   
  
She smiles. A bright smile that reaches her eyes.

 

“I missed you too.“  
  
They kiss again, then fall silent. Robin lies beside her in her bed, and she snuggles in his arms. He holds her for a while, rubbing her back as she lets the strong beat of his heart lull her to sleep.   
  
No matter what Zelena did to break them, they're still here. They're still fighting. It will take time, but they will find their way back to each other. In some twisted way, what her sister did brought them closer, raised their relationship to another level, made them understand what they were not aware of, and aren’t ready to voice just yet.   
  
It takes Regina a few minutes to let go, but safely tucked in Robin's embrace, despite the nerve wracking conversation they just had, she drifts into sleep quite easily.

  
Back to present 

 

As she remembers this, a few days later, Regina gives a warm smile to the man currently talking with Killian, before turning her attention to Henry, her son telling them how Neal’s cries in the middle of the night prevent everyone from sleeping more than two hours in a row.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the big OQ talk... OQ is endgame, but I made the choice to scar both of them by what happened with Zelena, something in my opinion hasn’t really been done on screen. So they will need time, but now they're officially back together. Yaaay!
> 
> Coming next : Zelena's plan is about to be revealed. She's almost done, and you will get a glimpse of it but it will mostly be developped in the next two chapters.
> 
> And Regina will have another talk with another main character... Snow. What comes out of it might surprise our dear Queen...


	11. Chapter 11

Zelena, present day

Finally! After a little more than two weeks, her plan is almost complete. She just misses two ingredients. The two things that will make her sister do exactly what Zelena wants. The two weakness that will allow her to overpower Regina once and for all, and _destroy_ her, if not physically, at least mentally. With some luck, _both_.

Thrilled to see her sister close to be defeated, Zelena remembers those last blessed weeks where she had finally been able to enjoy Regina's suffering. She remembers using her pocket mirror to take a look at the others, satisfyingly watching them live their lives without Regina just as she had expected them to do. Well, they were looking for her, but never did they suspect that Regina might still be in town. And whenever Zelena witnessed a happy moment, she transferred it to the mirror in front of Regina. And more than anything, she _reveled_ in sending her the family moments she shared with Robin, knowing very well it was the masterpiece and most effective way to break her sister.

The tricky part was not to get caught. As the weeks went by, Robin became suspicious, asking more and more questions about her whereabouts and occupations, looking over her shoulder to see what she was up to every time she tried to be alone to check on her mirror.

She wasn't really afraid to be unmasked. After all, _who_ , in this pathetic and stupid town, was clever or powerful enough to suspect that she was alive? Even Rumpelstiltskin, the _great and imperious_ Dark One, never saw her shell game, never noticed that she didn't really die from his hand -or should she say dagger? So if he didn't, who could?

But having to justify her every movements, check her surroundings to make sure she was alone, soon became annoying. She's not certain when or how exactly he managed to find out about Regina’s location, but she should have known his thieving skills would become a problem at some point.

She had wondered why he wanted her to spend time with the bookworm. But she couldn't let him see her doubts, couldn't let him grow more suspicious, so she didn’t push, had played along, and what was her reward? Regina being discovered.

Zelena's head peaks from behind the tree where she's hiding. _He's_ _here_. The first element of her plan. If everything goes well, soon, all of those stupid morons will beg her for mercy. But she won't show any.

Thinking back, she could have accepted her sister's offer at redemption. But after her last encounter with Rumple, she had realized there will be no redemption for her. No matter how hard she would try, they would never forgive her. And since he decided to kill her and she managed to escape, well... Better use that second chance for a more interesting purpose.

There is no redemption for people like them, herself, Regina, Rumpelstiltskin, and even that pesky pirate.

Regina can fool herself as much as she wants, can bring down as many ‘ _villains’_ as she wants, she will never be part of the heroes family. Even Rumple, despite his supposed love for Belle, has succumbed to darkness again when he tried to kill her. He lied to his newly wife the minute he got out of his cage. And now, no matter how good he is at hiding it, Zelena is sure that he will never succeed in his supposed quest to goodness. If quest there is…

Coming back from her thoughts, she spots _him_ playing on the ground, under one of Robin's men’s care. He seems a little sad, she notices. But why would she care? He's not her son.

So she waits in silence, stays patiently hidden until the favorable moment, until he's truly alone, until his guard is down. She knows Robin won't spend the night here, and her plan is ready, so she'll wait until night fall, until the camp is asleep.

And then... Then, she'll strike.

* * *

 

Regina, The next morning

She opens her eyes when someone enter the room, and finds Snow, sheepishly smiling at her, waiting at the entrance.

“Can I come in?” she asks softly.

Regina was resting, eyes closed, Robin's fingers drawing soothing patterns over her arm, but she sits down and nods, her hand finding Robin's and clutching there.

“I'm sorry, I didn't know you were sleeping.”

“No, don't worry.” Regina reassures. “I don't mind the company, and I'm spending way too much time sleeping.”

“Because you need to get your strength back if you want to get out of here.” Robin points, his voice gently teasing but his look slightly scolding, because she's not resting as must as she should, and knows it.

Regina narrows her eyes, gives him a look. “If nurses weren’t waking me up every morning at 6am, maybe I could rest properly and wouldn’t have to sleep during the day.” She argues, before turning back to Snow who took a seat on the other side of the bed.

She looks tired, Regina notices. And worried too.

A couple of days after Regina awoke, Snow came to her, alone, overwhelmed with guilt and shame. She was blaming herself for not believing enough in her step mother, for thinking that she could have fled in the middle of the night without so much as a goodbye. She had confessed how she hadn't looked for her, how, aside from Henry, they all fell into Zelena's trap and convinced themselves that she had really left town. She felt guilty for never standing up for her, for giving in everyone's certainty that Regina needed time for herself and that running away was what she had always done and would always do.

She should have known better! She should have had faith! Henry did! Henry never lost hope. Henry always believed in his mother. And _she didn't_ , and she couldn’t express how sorry she was.

Surprisingly, Regina had reassured her. _Yes_ , she had been mad at them, disappointed to see them live their lives as if she were never there. She thought that she mattered more than that, especially after everything that happened in the Enchanted Forest during the missing year, after the new closeness and beginning of friendship that had started to built between her and Snow. _But_ , she also confessed that she had been surprised to learn that, even if they didn't look for her in Storybrooke, they _did_ seek her out in the real world –Henry’s revelation the day before Snow's confession. They never thought something bad had happened to her, but they tried to reach her where they imagined she was. _Out_ of town.

After all, Zelena's plan was a good one, and Regina’s sister is a master at manipulating people. Even herself fell for her trick, and believed that she was dead. If she doesn't want her wicked sister to win the battle, she can't hold a grudge on everyone for believing her. She's done with resentment. She's just happy this nightmare is finally over, though she's well aware the war is not.

“How are you?” Snow asks softly.

Regina shrugs. “Alright, I guess. I'm not ready to run a marathon yet, and I'm still waiting for my damn magic to fully come back, but I'm feeling better.”

Robin rises, catching both women's attention, and leans forward to drop a kiss on Regina's forehead.

“I'm going to walk for a bit, let you two talk. Do you need anything?”

Regina answers his smile, shakes her head no, and lets go of his hand. Her eyes follow him until he's disappeared in the hallway. She sighs then, still staring at the door. Things have been hard on him too. He reluctantly confessed that Roland is still asking after Marian, and the fact that his father spends so much time at the hospital isn’t helping. She urged him to go take care of his son for a few days, “ _Nothing is more important than a child._ ” she reminded him, knowing too well how much this was true. And he did. However, given the situation, with Zelena still off the loop, his fear for Regina’s safety won, bringing him back in her room again in the matter of a couple of days.

“How things are between you two?”

The question is asked softly but warily, Regina turning to Snow with a weak smile. She's not mad at him for his choices. She doesn't blame him for not seeing clear in Zelena's game. Well, she _tries_ not to be at least. She really was, at the beginning, when she was captive. And the pain of witnessing him being with another woman and apparently getting over her so easily is still deeply rooted in her mind. But she shushes it. They were at the dawn of their relationship. She doesn't know how she would have reacted if Daniel was brought back instead of Marian. Maybe she would have chosen Daniel. Maybe she would have tried to forget Robin too. There is no way to be sure. But what she _knows_ is that if she doesn't give him a chance to make things up to her, she might let go of her second chance at love, and she's done pushing everyone away out of revenge and hate. She likes him - _really_ likes him, she confesses with a blush she can’t suppress- and she wants to be with him, so she will fight for what she wants.

Nevertheless, she's still reluctant to go beyond chaste gestures and soft kisses -though really, it's not as if they have any privacy in a hospital room guarded by half the town, but she enjoys just being with him for now, slowly going back to where they were before this whole mess started, and he accepts just what she gives to him. She's not sure that she trusts him as she did once, but it will come back, given time and comfort.

On his side though, she's under the impression that he hasn't forgiven himself for his lack of faith in her, and he clearly feels responsible for what Zelena put her through.

They fought over this. She told him again and again to stop it, to let go. He has to get over his guilt if they want to move on together.

Regina tells Snow about all this, confesses her doubts, her fear that despite her efforts and hope that everything will work out -yes, she learned to hope when she was dying and desperate to see them again, she mutters under the surprised smirk Snow sends her- Zelena managed to create a gap between her and Robin. She doesn't want to believe this, she’s pretty sure that she has no reason to, but it’s a feeling she hasn’t been able to fully overcome and suppress.

Snow puts a reassuring hand over Regina's, smiling at her.

“Regina, no matter what Zelena tried to do to your relationship with Robin, I have no doubts that you two will get past it. I'm not sure you're fully aware of how deeply this man cares for you. I saw it, when you were unconscious, when we thought...” She pauses, because even if Regina's life is not in danger anymore -not from her injuries at least, it's still painful to think back of that time. “When we thought you might not wake up.” she resumes, struggling with the words. “Regina, I'm pretty sure he would have died with you. So you stop worrying now, because he's not going anywhere, and neither are you.”

Regina looks down at that, mutters, “I wouldn't be so sure about that.” that she explains with “Zelena still wants me down.” to which Snow simply nods, before falling silent for a minute.

“It amazes me how much you've grown up since we first met.” the short-haired brunette says.

Regina tilts her head in question, surprised by the sudden and unexpected revelation. “What do you mean?”

Snow leans forward, her forearms resting on her knees as she looks straight into Regina's eyes.

“Not long ago, you'd have held a grudge against all of us for not trusting you, not helping you. But here you are, comforting us and assuaging our guilt instead of the other way around.”

“Try to spend five weeks locked up thinking that you're going to die without seeing the people you care about, ever again. I can assure you that holding a grudge against them is the last thing you want when you have the chance to get out alive.” Regina mutters, looking down at her hands resting on her lap, fidgeting with the sheets. She takes a deep breath, before finally confessing. “I was on the other side, Snow. What Zelena did to me made me realize what  _I_  did to people when I was...” She hesitates, can't bring herself to voice it so she just goes with, “back in the Enchanted Forest. It was a fair payback after everything I did.”

Snow's face shifts into a deep concern, and she rests a hand on Regina's shoulder, catching her attention.

“I disagree, Regina. You’ve changed. I won't deny all the mistakes you've made back then, and maybe  _she_  would have deserved it -though that's debatable- but _you_ don’t. You're not her anymore. You saved us, you saved  _me_ , my husband, more times than I can count now. And I know that you don't want to hear it, but I'm sorry you had to go through this. I'm sorry I never thanked you before. I'm sorry I didn't believe in you enough to go after you. You may have forgiven me but I haven't forgiven myself. For what it worth,” she continues before Regina manages to argue. “and I know I'm not the only one who thinks that,” She makes sure her step mother hears and understands every word she's about to say before admitting with a soft smile. “I'm proud of you.”

Regina's eyes fill with tears, addresses Snow a watery smile, squeezing the woman's hand tightly. She barely manages to breathe a  _thank you_ , her heart overwhelmed with too many feelings of care, love and pride, her brain still trying to process the words she always craved to hear but was never able to deserve until now.

They stay silent after that, for a few minutes at least, until Regina decides that she doesn't want Snow's visit to be tainted by her bruised ego. She looks back up, lifts an eyebrow. “So... Henry told me that your little prince is keeping everyone awake days and nights at home.”

Snow is startled by the sudden change of tone and subject, but catches up quickly, a wide bright smile lightening her face at the mention of her son.

“That he is. He's driving his father's nuts.” She chuckles softly, the concern from the previous discussion all but forgotten.

xxx

There’s a shout in the hallway, followed by Robin's name called with a panicked voice, quick and loud footsteps, then a animated talk.

Regina and Snow frown, wondering what might have just happened to cause that much hurry. Has Zelena made a move? Did she try anything ?

When a distinct and strangled _What?_ clearly coming from Robin is heard, Regina sits straight, alert, and Snow gets up and heads for the door. Before she reaches it, Robin storms inside the room, a man Regina remembers as Will –a former member of the Merry Men who was found stealing the town library while she was held captive- on his heels, out of breath.

“What’s going on?” Snow asks, alarmed.

Will glances at Robin, then Regina, who's eyeing them with concern. Robin doesn't answer, runs a hand through his hair, then wiping his face, worry and fear written emanating from him. Regina’s gut twists badly, an uncomfortable feeling seizing her as she watches him carefully, a parent’s concern quite clear in his demeanor.

“Robin?” she asks more forcefully.

He looks up at her then, and his eyes are pleading when he lets out a strangled “She took Roland.” A gasp escapes her, Snow bringing a hand on her chest in shock. “And Henry.” Robin finishes.

It takes Regina less than two seconds to process the information.

As she does, she removes the covers quickly, her bare feet landing on the cold ground. She takes a second to fully stand up, because she may be steadier but her knees are shaking right now, and she's not sure she can trust her body completely as it's paralyzed with so much fear that she every movement is a struggle.

An arm catches her at the exact moment she's up, stopping her from stepping forward. She lifts her eyes from the ground to meet Robin's questioning gaze, Snow's just behind.

“What are you doing?” He asks, dumbfounded.

“What do you think I'm doing?” She snaps. “She has my son, and Roland. I'm not gonna sit tight here gently, waiting for her to do to them whatever twisted plan she has in mind. I won’t let them suffer what I went through.”

She tries to move again but he holds her firmly.

“You're not leaving this room, Regina.” He insists, eyes clouded with anguish. “You're not strong enough to-”

“And she knows that!” she cuts, eyes filling with tears but also with anger. “That's why she's doing that _now_ , Robin. She must know that my magic isn’t fully working, that I'm clearly weaker than her right now. But she has Henry and Roland! She has our sons.” she pleads painfully.

“And she did ask for you, your Majesty.” Will steps in. Everyone turn towards him, Robin glaring at him but the young man ignores him as he continues, staring at Regina. “She said that you have to meet her on Main Street in...” he glances at his watch, then looks back up. “half an hour.”

“Going out there to confront her in your condition is suicide, Regina.” Snow reasons, but the former Queen shakes her head.

“It's not your decision to make, either of you.” She replies, looking back and forth between Snow and Robin. “I'm going! So either you help me, or I swear I'll find my way out of here even if I have to fight both of you with my bare hands.”

_Here's the fire!_ Regina feels it boil inside her, adrenaline cursing through her veins, keeping her standing, giving her the strength she needs to do whatever needs to be done.

Robin looks at her hesitantly, still not releasing her arm, hesitant to let her go despite her earlier threats. But the glare she gives him makes him pull back. Regina walks past him immediately, heading for the small closet in the back of the room. Luckily, she's already dressed, so she won't lose any more time.

She grabs a pair of comfortable boots that Ruby and Emma bought to replace the clothes Zelena got rid of, tugs at the zipper with force, then frustration when she fails to zip them, her fingers trembling, her body still weak, her mind blurred with anxiety and panic. Snow crouches to help her while Robin settles behind her, his arms circling her waist so she can lean back and rest against him for a second. When Snow rises, she gives Regina a weak nod, and heads for the door with Will, giving the couple some privacy.

Regina turns in Robin's arms to face him, winds hers around his neck as his hands grip at her waist, bringing her closer until their foreheads almost touch.

“Be careful!” he whispers.

“Robin, I...” she starts weakly. She takes a deep breath, and looks right into his blue eyes frantic with fear. “I'll do anything,  _anything_ , to save them. Whatever the cost, I'll bring them back, safe. I promise.”

A tear escape his eyes as his lips find her forehead. He knows there's no way he will change her mind. She will fight to death if necessary for the people she loves, even more for Henry and Roland. Like she said, _whatever the cost_.

She closes her eyes, revels in that moment, takes from him all the courage and strength she can, bringing his mouth to hers for a slow, gentle kiss.

“I love you.” He confesses against her lips, not willing to let her go unaware of his feelings if there's a single chance that she won't come back. There’s a small smile growing on her lips, her grip on him tightening before loosening again.

“I...” she tries with a strangled voice, emotion taking over her.

Robin senses her struggle, shushes her softly.

“I know.” he breathes in the space between them.

She takes a deep breath, growing serious. “Robin, you don't have to come. I'll understand if you prefer-”

“I won't let you deal with this alone again, Regina. I'm staying with you this time.” he cuts her.

There is nothing more to say. Now, it’s time to save their boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With this chapter, everyone's storylines now converge into a unique one, that will mainly focus on Regina. Almost everything will be told from her POV. 
> 
> Zelena's plan will be completely revealed in the next two chapters. This is also when action will take place, and I'm a bit anxious about how you'll welcome what I have planned. Please, don't hesitate to tell me what you thought of this chapter, I'll be forever grateful.


	12. Chapter 12

Regina arrives on Main Street with Robin, Snow and Will, and she's immediately met by Emma, whose outside appearance is calm although her eyes reflect her inner panic and anxiety. David, Hook, Ruby, Granny, Little John and some other Merry Men are just behind her.

When she stops in front of them, she feels Robin's arm wind around her waist and bring her to his chest. She's not sure if this is a silent support, or a consequence of the last words they exchanged. Maybe, _probably_ , both. But she doesn't hesitate one second to lean in his embrace and intertwine their fingers.

“What happened?” she asks immediately.

“She attacked us on our way to the school bus.” David explains quickly. “She got a hold on him before I could take out my gun. She gloated that she also had Roland, and that if you wanted to see them alive, you had to meet her here at 10.” He looks at his watch. “Which is in a few minutes.”

Regina nods and turns to Little John, about to speak but Robin interrupts her.

“When did she get Roland? How the hell did that happen John?”

The large man receives his friend’s anger with an apologetic look. Surely he must know too well how freaked out Robin feels right now.

“I'm not sure exactly, but it must have been during the night. I tucked him in at 8pm yesterday, checked on him before going to bed around 11pm. It’s only when he went to wake him up at 7 that I realized he wasn’t in his tent. We searched everywhere until the witch showed up an hour ago.”

“I can’t be a coincidence if she decided to go after him on a night you were with me.” Regina groans, fury boiling inside her, feeling Robin's grip tighten on her hip.

“What do you suggest we do?” Emma asks.

Ready to dive head-first into battle, as usual… Regina shakes her head.

“Well, she wants _me_ , and I’m where she expects me to be, so she'll probably...”

A wicked laugh interrupts her, resonating in the whole street, the group turning to face Zelena while Regina glares at the satisfied grin plastered on her sister’s face. Emma begins to walk forward but Hook holds her back.

The witch takes a few steps forward, closing the gap between her and Regina, ignoring everyone's glares, only breaking eye-contact to glance at Robin's protective arm around Regina. She stops right in front of the couple and cocks her head.

“Oh, the love birds have found their way back to each other, at last.” she mocks. Her tone changes suddenly into a despising one. “Don't get used to it, it will be over soon!” she spits.

“What do you want?” growls Robin.

“Tss tss tss! Is this an appropriate way to talk to your wife?” She seductively tilts her head, sending him a wink to which he answers with a dark glare.

She then turns her attention to her sister. “I'm going to give you a choice, _sis'_. Your _precious_ little boys are each trapped in two different places. Roland is at the barn, Henry at the town line.”

There’s movement behind Regina, people beginning to head in those directions, so Zelena raises a hand and her voice, stopping them right on track.

“ _I'm not finished_!” Once everything is quiet again, she resumes. “They are protected by a spell, one that I sealed with blood magic.”

Regina's eyes narrow as she understands where this is going.

“Which means...” Zelena explains for those unfamiliar with magic, eyes scanning the crowd. “That Regina is the only one beside me who can get past the spell to reach them.” She turns her attention back to the brunette, who hasn’t looked away from her once. “As soon as I’ll leave, I'll activate the traps keeping them prisoners, and you'll have _one hour_ to save them. The trick is: In order to rescue your precious boys, you have to wear _this_.”

Green smoke appears in the crook of her right hand, vanishing to reveal a silver bracelet with a round screen similar to a small clock that she hands to her sister.

“This bracelet will stay locked around your wrist until time is out. It will block the few powers you recovered and more especially, your ability to teleport yourself  _or_  be teleported by someone else's magic. You can't just poof yourself there, it'd be too easy.” She explains smugly while Regina fastens the bracelet around her wrist.

Regina closes her eyes as the heat of magic leaves her, letting out an exhale before looking up at her sister.

“The time switch will tell how much time you have left before the end of the countdown. As for the solution to free the kids from their chains, I let you figure this out by yourself like a big girl.” Zelena giggles.

The witch has stopped talking, yet Regina keep staring at her. Something is missing here. This is too easy, there must be a catch.

“You said you were giving me a choice.” She states flatly. “What kind of choice?”

“Oh yeah, that!” Zelena cackles. “A small thing, nothing big, _really_. You lived in this town longer than I did, you know the locations I chose are quite far from each other. Knowing that it will take you some time to free one boy, even with that world's magic called a car, there is no way that you will be able to go from one place to the other in time to save them both.”

A general gasp emanates from the crowd, but Regina doesn't move an inch. Her fingers are squeezing Robin's so tightly her knuckles have turned white. Outside, she's perfectly calm, despite the fire dancing in her eyes and threatening to roast her sister on the spot. Inside though, she’s wrecking. She understands why Zelena decided to use the boys. It's clever. _Cruel_ , but clever.

If she saves Henry, she loses Robin and Roland. If she saves Roland, she loses her son, Snow, David and Emma.

In both cases, she loses _herself_.

Zelena managed to find a way to destroy not only her life but also the ones of her loved ones.

“So who will you chose to save, sis'? Henry or Roland? Which one are you willing to let die?” The redhead shrugs, eyes wide with excitement “Tick, Tock, Regina! _Tick, Tock_!”

And then she's gone.

The tension around Regina suddenly explodes, voices coming from everywhere and everyone, protests, battle plans, questions fussing like arrows. Everyone wants to catch her attention but she doesn't hear any of them. She grips the bracelet on her wrist firmly, focuses, tries to find a way to counter Zelena's plan.

She can't let her win. She can't lose any of those boys.

Henry is her son, the person she loves most in all the realms, the very reason she became who she is now, the greatest joy of her life. He is _everything_ to her. Leave him behind when she had to go back to the Enchanted Forest was unbearable, but lose him in death would be insurmountable.

But Roland is so innocent. With him, she learned to smile again in the Enchanted Forest. She learned to _love_ again, after Henry, before Robin. She’s started to love him as her own, remembers how he was the only person able to soothe the pain of Henry’s loss during the missing year. And he is everything Robin has.

She can't choose.

She can't.

Either way, she has a child's death on her hands, a child she loves deeply. That’s something she cannot live with.

So Regina thinks. She remembers Zelena's words, desperate to find a flaw in her twisted plan.

She can't save them both. They are across town, and even at full speed she'd need at least a good twenty minutes to drive from one place to the other. Not counting that she has to get there first and the countdown has already started.

What else did she say? She can't use her magic. She can't use someone else's magic. She can't teleported or be teleported. She can't...

Wait, _what_?

And suddenly, her eyes light up in realization. There's a risk it won't work, but she’s in no position to refuse any option right now. Plus, if she's correct, she might be able to rescue both Henry _and_ Roland.

Ignoring the protests, she extricates herself from Robin's embrace and starts to run, ignoring the frantic calls of her name as she disappears at the corner of the street. There’s more important at stake than them right now.

In less than 3 minutes, Regina storms inside Gold's pawnshop, breathless. She meets Belle's surprised gaze and collapses violently against the front desk, cutting off Belle before she has time to ask any question. She's already exhausted. This will definitely not be an easy task.

“Where's your husband ?” she asks, trying to catch her breath.

“What? Regina, what is-”

“Where. Is. Your. Husband?” Regina shouts louder.

“No need to yell, dearie, I'm right here.” Gold's voice answers as he steps out from the back room.

“I need the seven-league boots!”

“And why would I provide you with that item?”

“Look!” Regina fights her exhaustion, straightens her spine and ignores her general dizziness. However, she can’t hide her annoyance when she explains. “While you were here playing the perfect husband instead of helping us, Zelena captured Henry and Roland, trapped them with blood magic at each side of the city and I have less than an hour to save them.” She glances at her wrist. 54 minutes. “She blocked my ability to be sent by magic from a place to another, so I won’t have time to save them both. The only way I can think of to counter that is to use an object that will allow me to go from one place to another at an incredible speed without disappearing. So give me those damn boots,  _now_!”

Gold barely reacts to the news and her harsh tone, but she knows him enough to be sure he'll help her this time, without any condition. After all, Henry is his grandson and he still holds a grudge against Zelena for Neal's death, even if he stayed away from all the research parties.

“How do you know it will work?” he asks serenely, heading for a drawer behind his stunned wife.

“I don't. But I don't really have another option. From what I understood, this bracelet will only block my capacity to be teleported, but not  _transported_. And it's neither my magic, yours or Emma's.” She grabs the pair of boots he hands her. “It _has_ to work. That’s their only chance.”

As she puts them on hastily over her own boots and feels them adjust to her size, she’s hit by another wave of dizziness, has to close her eyes for a second. She leans forward, grabs the edge of the desk to support her suddenly very heavy and trembling body.

There’s a hand on her shoulder steadying her as Rumple tells her to be careful, she's still weak, and reminds her that the boots are only working at an expensive cost of energy.

Regina nods, repeats. “I know. I have no choice.”

She asks him to tell the others to split and wait for her at the two locations where Henry and Roland are kept prisoners, and in three steps she's gone.

It's working.

That’s a weird feeling. Everything is moving around her so fast that she can barely recognize where she is. It's not exactly like flying, but her feet barely touch the ground, and despite her exhaustion, her body feels light now, is not longer a weight slowing her down.

She knows where she has to go first. She thought about it while running to Gold's pawnshop. If she doesn't free _him_ first, she won't be able to focus on her mission, her mind blurred with the fear already twisting her guts like hell. Anyway, she has no intention to let any of them die. She will save them both. _She has to_. She won't be able to live with the guilt of being responsible for a child's death and his family's distress. And she won't give Zelena the pleasure to see that happen.

Thanks to Henry, to Robin and Roland, she found a way to use love instead of darkness to fuel her magic. So right now, even if her magic is gone, she focuses on her love for them, but also on all that hate and anger she feels for her sister. She lets both contradictory feelings invade her, and give her the necessary strength to complete her task.

_I will save them both_ , she repeats mentally as a mantra.

Suddenly, she stops. In front of her, a green dome rises from the ground, a dome through which she can't see. She glances at the countdown on her bracelet : it took her less than three minutes to make the trip from Gold's shop. Barely relieved, she removes the boots and grabs them tightly. She doesn't trust her sister enough to let them out of the dome while she's inside, so she keeps her hold on it, and steps forward. She sinks through the shield easily, with no resistance, her breath caught in her throat, her eyes closed, her body anticipating was she's about to face.

When she opens her eyes, she's inside.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, sorry. Any hint on who Regina went to first?  
> I figured forcing her to choose whom to save between Henry and Roland would be a hell of a revenge for Zelena, don't you think? *evil laugh*
> 
> I'm not very familiar with the Little Poucet but I'm pretty sure the way I described it is not how the seven-leagues boots actually work in the original story. But I wanted to do it my way, and I am no Adam nor Eddy (thank God!), but they tend to change things in the show. So for me, the boots are allowing you to run faster, not to take strides of seven-leagues.
> 
> And to anyone who already read this story in its old version and is rereading it here, if this chapter seems slightly different, that's normal. I didn't change the essence, but man, there was waaay too many awful english mistakes for me to ignore them, so I had to do something. It will be the same with the next chapter. Hopefully, it's better this way rather than before.


	13. Chapter 13

Half an hour earlier

How long has he been trapped in here? It can’t be more than an hour or so, but the green shield is blocking his view on the outside, so he has no way to know what time of the day it is.

He has bigger problems. Zelena trapped him in a cage, tied his hands with very thick iron chains. He tried to free himself, but he couldn't. Zelena told them Regina was the only one able to do so. So he just waits, in silence, keeping faith that she'll come for him.

He looks around again. There’s a large timer in front of him, that’s off for now, but that will count down the time he has left to live when it’ll turn on. The cage he’s in is resting on top of several piled up gasoline canisters, and there's a few others scattered across the place. He's the center of a circle made with a magical wire that sends several branches towards him, making the whole thing look like a giant wheel. And he’s the icing on the cake. The witch said that when it's time, the wire will ignite, and from then he'll have an hour until it reaches the center and everything explodes.

The thought itself is terrorizing him. She warned them that only one of them would be saved. It's a selfish wish, but he really wants to be the lucky one.

Fire lights up all of a sudden, startling him: The Wicked Witch’s game is on.

He finds himself paralyzed with fear, unable to think anymore, frozen on the spot, gaze staring at the flames. The wall of fire surrounding him slowly, inch by inch, progresses along the wheel spokes, moving closer, heading towards him.

But something catches his eye. There’s a frame behind the fire wall, a person’s silhouette. He looks up at the timer: This hell started eleven minutes ago, but she’s is finally here to help him! He watches her enter the dome, and almost stepping back, her eyes opening wide with the surprise of the scene in front of her.

“Mom!” He screams.

She looks up and locks eyes with him immediately, trying to move forward but a gust of flames forces her to stop.

“Henry? Henry, are you okay?”

She chose him. _She_ _chose_ _him_! This is definitely not the right moment or the proper reaction, but Henry can’t help his heart to leap with joy, allowing relief to invade him.

“I'm fine. Zelena locked me up in here. I can’t get out.”

“I know, I'm coming.”

Regina assesses the situation. There's fire everywhere -what an irony to use her favorite weapon against her, but that was probably made on purpose, and Henry is on the other side. The timer hanging above them indicates 48 minutes.

She tries to find an opening, makes a quick tour of the wall of flames but finds herself back where she started with no other way to get inside other than jumping in.

She takes a deep breath. She can do it! She closes her eyes, pictures Roland waiting for her at the barn. She can't dawdle here, she needs to get Henry to safety quickly and go to the little boy. She removes her jacket and drops the boots at a safe distance from the fire, straightens her spine, fists her hands, body tensing in anticipation. She exhales slowly, thinks about nothing but her son waiting for her barely a few feet away, and jumps.

When she opens her eyes, she's done it. She's on the other side. Her forearm is burning, but Regina ignores the pain. She has more important things to focus on than minor injuries. She gives a quick glance to the bracelet: 44 minutes left.

In a few steps, she's near the cage.

“Mom!” Henry calls again.

Regina looks up at him with the most reassuring smile she can muster in these circumstances, before escalading the canisters on top of which he's locked up, about 15 feet above the floor. Her hand slides against a very sharp metallic edge of a canister, leaving a deep cut in her palm. The pain makes Regina spontaneously remove her hand, but when she loses her balance she’s forced to grab the edge again. Her wound is bleeding heavily, hurting like hell, blood making her hand slip whenever she tries to get a firm hold, but with determination and iron will, she makes it to the top.

When she reaches Henry, she takes the hands he holds out for her through the bars, gives him her most reassuring and loving smile.

“You chose me.” He breathes, still stunned.

“Henry, I will _always_ choose you. You’re my son, sweetheart. But I’ve found a way to save Roland too, so I need to be quick. Tell me, what do I have to do?”

As her son shows her the similar locks on the cage's door and his handcuffs, Regina thinks of what she just said. Truth be told, if she really had been forced to make a choice, she's not entirely sure of whose child she’d have saved. But when she realized she had a way to free them both, she knew she couldn't go through this ordeal if she didn't save him first. Also, she figured that Henry would probably be more helpful than Roland to find the solution to open the chains. The guilt of her decision weights on her, and she hopes that Robin will understand. But Henry doesn't need to know her dilemma, he doesn't have to know that she couldn't decide between her own son and another child he barely knows, because she's determined to _not_ let any of them die.

Regina takes a closer look at the thick lock. It's pierced with a 2 inches large and maybe 4 inches deep hole that appears to be exactly similar to the one on the handcuffs, and nothing like the usual key shape. She looks around, but sees nothing to fit the lock. She stares at the bracelet, but she can't even remove it so it can’t the key. Even if she could, the shape doesn't fit.

Henry is as clueless as she is. Until his eyes open in realization.

“She said you'd have to use your _blood_ to get us out!” he exclaims suddenly and she frowns. “I thought it was an image but maybe…”

“My blood?” She interrupts him. “How am I sup-”

Regina stops when she understands her son’s idea. _Her smart boy_! She looks down at her bleeding palm covered with her sleeves. Why not? It's worth the shot. Removing the fabric, she presses on the wound to pour as much blood as she can inside the lock. The second a drop lands in it, it starts to glow, turning brighter as it fills with her own blood. So Regina keeps pressing on her wound, until she hears a click. She barely has time to remove her hand that the lock swings open, so she hurries to remove the lock and pushes the door open with trembling hands, kneeling next to her son and pulling him into a warm embrace, both sighing in relief, hearts beating fast in unison.

She doesn't linger, she can’t, _Roland_ , so she pulls back and inspect the mechanism keeping him inside the cage to make sure it works the same way. Her sight is blurred, forcing her to blink several times. Air is saturated with smoke, Henry is already coughing violently, her own throat is tickling, her eyes burning, but she shakes her head. She needs to focus!

The handcuffs are linked to the bars by a chain, but luckily the lock seems to be the same than the one she just opened. Using the sharp side of the canister they're on to open her wound deeper, Regina repeats the same process. This time, the glow is spreading around Henry's wrists, and she understands that this hole runs in all the handcuff instead of being a dead end. It will probably require more blood, but she doesn't hesitate, presses harder on her arm to get as much of it out as she can. But as she does so, Regina’s dizziness increases, her tiredness growing.

She’s draining herself from her blood, she realizes, a good amount of it, and it's weakening her in the process. That must be the reason why Zelena chose this way to free them. She must be hoping that it will weaken her so much she won't even exit one prison and she will die with her two boys.

But Regina is stronger than Zelena thinks.

Once the second lock is full, she frees her son for good, grabs his hand and starts climbing down the canisters carefully but as fast as possible. As they reach the ground, she glances up at the timer and freezes.

 _25_ _minutes_.

She still has to get Henry out of here, cross the entire town and repeat the same process with Roland. So she doesn't waste time, drags her son towards the flames and with one nod from her, they jump through it together. She grabs her coat and boots and a second later they're out, blinking against the blinding day light.

She feels someone clutch at Henry, then being pulled into an embrace herself, but she shakes her head, comes back to her senses. She pushes Mary Margaret away, reaches for the boots and slips into them. She turns towards Henry, tucked in Emma's arms, raises a hand to stroke his cheek and he nods.

“Go save him, mom! Be a hero.”

This time, while she runs across town, the lightness she first experienced is gone, replaced by the feeling of her strength abandoning her, triggering a surge of panic that invades her thoughts.

What if she's not strong enough? What if she can't save him? What if he dies because she failed? Robin will never forgive her.  _She_  will never forgive herself.

Again, she shakes these ideas aside, and focuses on her goal. Henry is safe, and Roland will be too in a handful of minutes.

She stops as soon as she's close enough to see Robin's worried face. He grabs her as she almost falls, exhausted by her run, short of breath but coughing violently, tears at the corner of her eyes. For a second, she lets him carry her, takes comfort from his warm hold, his lips against her temple, the hand he trails in her hair.

But she gets back to her spirits within a few seconds, and guiltily looks up at him.

“I'm sorry, I had to…”

He shakes her head, kisses her forehead. “I know. I understand.”

She nods, promises him to give save his son, removes the boots quickly and throws them on the floor, looks around and borrows one of Robin's men's knife before walking firmly towards the shield.

Robin stops her with a shaking hand on her forearm, pointing at the knife.

“What do you need that for?”

She shows him her other hand, covered with half dried blood.

“My blood is the key to open the cage he's trapped in, and this wound is not bleeding enough anymore. By the way, you should all steps back. It's full of gas and fire in there, and it's ready to explode at any time.”

Regina doesn't let him time to process the information, and steps inside the shield.

_18 minutes._

She loses no time, spots the terrified boy in the middle of the wheel of fire, notices that the flames are more than halfway to him, and without hesitation, jumps though the flames, ignoring the pain in her limbs as she gets burnt in the process.

_17 minutes._

She hears his frightened little voice call her name with frantic sobs, and she tries her best smile, assuring between two cough fit that it's okay, she's going to get him out of here.

She climbs on top of the canisters to reach him, but her exhaustion is growing, forcing her to stop several times to gather her strengths and keep going.

_13 minutes._

She asks Roland to look elsewhere when she slices her other palm deeply, wincing and unable to suppress a weak groan. She fills the first lock in no time, opens the cage and settles next to the boy, who immediately jumps in her arms. She gives into the hug even though they're out of time - _9 minutes_ , because she needs to remember the reason why she's doing this, because her body needs a moment to recover and because she knows Roland must be scared to death and it's all her fault.

_8 minutes._

She extricates herself from his grasp, reaches for the handcuff around his so small wrists and starts filling it with her blood.

_6 minutes._

It's not flowing as fast as she wants, so Regina grabs the knife again and barely pays attention the terror written in Roland's eyes when she cuts her wrist deeply, blood  flowing heavily again.

_4 minutes_

Finally, it's full and the lock opens. She suppresses the urge to lean forward and closes her eyes for a minute, fights her tiredness, the need to lie down and sleep. Instead, she frees Roland, tucks him safely in her arms, covering his head and body with her jacket, hears him cough violently against her chest, swallows hard to suppress a cough fit herself as they're surrounded by so much smoke she barely sees where she’s going, and starts climbing down the canisters the best she can with the little boys in her arms.

_1 minute._

Regina almost falls when her feet touch the ground, and she forces herself to stay upright, to keep going and get them out of this hell. But there's smoke and fire everywhere now, so close it reaches her, and her lungs are burning, Roland's body is heavy in her arms. She turns her back on the cage, and rushes forward, ignoring the excruciating pain running through her body as flames envelop her.

* * *

 

Robin's heart has never beaten so fast in his whole life. He looks at the dome, unable to move, unable to breathe, to speak.

He's praying to see Regina's frame step out, to see his son's smile and excited eyes when he will jump into his arms. He has faith in her, he knows she won't let him down, neither him or Roland. He knows that she will do everything she exit this trap alive.

But she was in such a bad state when she arrived, he's afraid  _this_ might be too much for her, that no matter how strong she is, her body will fail her, and he will end up alone, losing his son and Regina in the process.

He had hope she would choose Roland first, feels a hint of disappointment at her choice, but he's a father, and maybe he'd have done the same thing had he been in her shoes. Honestly, he has no right to be mad at her after everything she went through because of him. She might not want him to blame himself for the last couple of months, but he can't help it. And knowing _she_ , despite everything, is fighting a hell he can't even begin to imagine, _again_ , to save _his_ _son_ , just bring his feelings for her to another level. Because even though fear is eating him alive, he believes in her more than he ever believed in anyone.

She will keep her promise! She will bring him Roland safe and sound. She will survive this new challenge, and she will come out of it stronger than ever.

Emma, David, Emma, Hook and Henry have joined him and his men just recently, and Regina's son is as tensed as he is. Rumple is there too, teleported the Charmings with him, finally decided to come offering his magic in case Zelena would show up.

Emma looks at her watch, sees as the seconds pass, and stamps impatiently, whispering to herself.

“Come on, Regina! Just get out of there!”

A deafening sound startles them all, and they step back as the dome explodes, its magic destroyed, the debris of the canisters scattered in the air, the blow devastating half the barn in the process. If it wasn't for the magical shield Rumple managed to rise at the last second, they would have known the same fate.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Yeah, I know, I'm sorry... Or maybe not XD I promise you, that was the last cliffhanger!
> 
> I made a lot of improvements in this chapter, so those of you who read the initial version might notice many changements. But again, I didn't change the essence of the story, only worked on my writing and english. But there are still mistakes and I apologize for them. 
> 
> The next chapter will start right when this one ended. No time jump. And Zelena will be back, of course!


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am a horrible person for leaving you hanging for so long when the chapter was ready on my computer XD I apologize, I hope I'll make it up to you with this chapter. 
> 
> Again, for the ones who already read this story, just like in the previous chapter, I made some important improvements (I hope so at least) but didn't change the essence of the story.

* * *

After the shock of the explosion, a deep silence.

The air is thick with ashes, smoke and debris, dust slowly falling down, creating a thin layer of gray powder on the grass. The atmosphere is hot. Burning. Like a blazing wind whipping their faces.

They can't see anything clearly. They’re surrounded by a thick fog that’s disappearing little by little, letting them begin to assess the damages.

From what they can see, the barn is destroyed. The foundations are the only thing left. There are fragments of the canisters and the barn everywhere, scattered all over the field, some of them still flying in the air as the group stares blankly ahead of them.

Even Gold's shield was shaken by the power of the blow.

No one’s talking, a lump blocking their throats.

They're too stunned to react.

It's not possible.

It just can't be.

Villains don't win. _Never_.

There's no way Zelena succeeded in killing her sister. Least of all, _Roland_.

As the astonishment fades, they find themselves able to move again. Robin is the first one to move, and takes a hesitant step forward.

He just lost everything. His son. His love. In some way, his life too. He looks ahead of him, tries to catch sight of something. _Anything_.

A form.

A sign.

A sound.

_A sound!_

Suddenly his senses are sharp and acute, and he lends an ear, waits.

There it is again. It's weak, but he's sure. He takes several giant steps, walks blindly in front of him, his eyes trying to pierce the thick fog around him.

_There!_

He's not walking now, he's running! He's running, and suddenly, he sees it. A shadow, lying on the ground.

_A body._

_Regina'_ s body.

Regina's bloody and burned body.

He falls on his knees next to her, his heartbeat pounding in his chest, hands shaking, breath short, but she doesn’t move.

Until she does. But it's not her, Robin realizes. There's something under her.

_Roland!_

Without a second thought, Robin carefully turns Regina on her back, lying her head on his lap, and chokes on a sob as he watches his son raise on his hands, coughing again -oh, how much he loves that sound right now!, then lift his head up to meet his father's tearful eyes.

“Papa!” the boy tries, his voice hoarse from the smoke he inhaled, the proof being the good layer covering his face.

He jumps in his father's open arms, and Robin forgets for a moment the woman's lifeless body in front of him. He cradles his son's face, holds him tight against his chest, so tight Roland makes a displeased noise when he squeezes too much.

“Mom!”

Henry's voice brings Robin back to reality, and he places Roland next to him, turns his attention back to Regina. His fingers stroke her hair, her face, her throat. She's not responding. She's not moving. She's covered with blood, burns and dust, a strand of hair stuck on her forehead with sweat. Both her hands and her right wrist are sliced deeply, drops of fresh blood still slipping from the wounds. Her forearms and legs are covered with burns. _Just like her back_ , Robin remembers. He's not sure if she looks as bad as she was two weeks ago in the cellar, or worse, but if there is a difference, it's not by much, and he definitely doesn't like the absence of life emanating from her right now.

Henry has knelt next to him, and is shaking his mother's body frantically, calling her with a voice slowly filling with strangled sobs as she stays unresponsive and still.

In front of the boy’s failed attempt, Gold steps forward, takes Henry's place. He lets his hands wander above Regina's body, eyes closed in deep focus. Once on top of her chest, he stops, letting a flow of blue magic envelop and penetrate her skin, remodeling it, healing her burns, closing her wounds.

Everyone's holding his breath, the silence only disturbed by Roland's small cough fits. Emma's arms are circling Henry's shoulders, her eyes not leaving the woman's frame on the ground. Mary Margaret is clutching to David's jacket, fear and hope both struggling in her eyes.

Gold removes his hand, and waits.

A violent cough startles them all, and Henry drops on his knees as Robin bends forward, his hands guiding and supporting Regina as she turns to her side, her cough fits more frantic and violent. She places a hand on the ground to steady herself, and finally, _finally_ , she opens her eyes.

She meets Henry's relieved face first, before her son throws himself in her arms, projecting her against Robin’s front. She manages to bring an arm around Henry's waist, but she's more clutching to him for support than actually hugging him. As she pulls back from Henry's embrace, two strong arms encircle her from behind. She cranes her neck to face Robin, but blinks several times, still disoriented and confused.

A dry cough takes her again, and when it stops she leans back in his arms, totally spent.

“What did you do, Gold?” Emma questions, finally looking away from Regina.

“She wasn't dead, but close.” The man explains with his usual calmness. “I simply healed her wounds, which must have been caused by the explosion and whatever she had to do to rescue those boys.” Regina weakly lifts her palms in front of her to see the perfect blood-covered scar-free skin. “However, you still need to be seen by a doctor, and I can't do anything against the exhaustion you're feeling right now.” He adds, this time talking directly to his former student. “There is no other treatment than sleep and rest for that, dear.”

Regina looks up at his -surprisingly- caring gaze, and nods, nothing but gratefulness in her eyes.

“Thank you.” She manages to breathe. It triggers another coughing fit, and when it finally ends, she leans her head back against Robin's shoulder, closing her eyes and ready to fall asleep in the minute.

But it was without counting on Roland, who jumps on her lap without a warning, startling everyone and making her eyes snap open instantly.

“You saved me, Regina!” he grins, coughing again and she smiles back, trails a finger on his cheek, wiping off dust and ashes from his face with her thumb.

“You saved _both_ of us.” Henry corrects.

When Regina looks into her son’s eyes, all she sees is how proud of her he is. Her arms open naturally, gathering the boys against her chest. Despite the exhaustion, despite how weak she feels, nothing can keep her away from holding on to them like a lifeline. She was so close to losing them…

But the happy moment is quickly broken, as a slow and sarcastic applause resonates in the field.

They all turn towards the new incoming, and meet a fuming Zelena. She's green. Well, not exactly skin-colored green. But she's raging. The look she sends to her sister could have slain a giant had it been an actual weapon. She doesn't mouth a word yet, just laugh bitterly when she notices that some of people are gathering to shield her sister from her sight.

Gold steps forward, a finger pointed at her.

“I think you should learn when you're defeated, dearie.” She glares at him. “I suggest you leave, now, before I kick your ass out of this town myself.”

“You think you're more powerful than I am?” The witch scoffs.

“Oh, I know I am.” He answers calmly, dropping his hand to his side. “And right now, I'm sick of your little games.”

With one flick of his wrist, he sends her rolling several feet away. He hears her groan in frustration, as she stands up and walks angrily towards him. He shoots another spell, but she deviates it.

By the time she faces him again, Regina is up, not quite steady on her feet, but determined to finish this. She ignores Robin's pleading as she slips between Snow and Emma and roots herself next to her former mentor.

“You should follow his advice,” She bites, nodding in Gold's direction. “and leave now. Because I  _really_  don't know what's keeping me from ripping your head off your body.” Regina threatens.

But all Zelena does is laugh. “Come on, sis'! You weren't powerful enough when you had all your powers. Look at you right now, you're not even a challenge! I wouldn't even need magic to crush you with my foot.”

“So that's your answer?”

Zelena glances between them. She could easily get rid of her sister now. She should, she thinks. But despite her apparent confidence, she knows she can't beat Rumple's magic. On the other hand, why coming that far if it was for giving up at the first occasion? And if she has to die today, better take her damn sister down with her.

So she straightens her spine, tilts her head high, and replies in a steady voice. “It is.”

“Very well then.”

Regina glances behind her to make sure everyone is at a safe distance. She notices Emma stayed back, and though they could use her magic right now, she's glad, because it's not her fight. And at least, if she has to die today, Henry will not be left alone.

She rubs her hands together, a smirk on her face, sensing that Rumple must wear the same right now. They've both been waiting for that for a very long time. Her magic might not be fully back, but she can feel it slowly stir and grow with the adrenaline cursing through her veins. It may not be enough to defeat Zelena, but with Rumple's help, the odds are better.

At the first attack, her old mentor steps in front of her, protecting both of them with his magic. Regina strikes back immediately, but Zelena disappears in a green smoke, reappearing right behind them and casting a spell so quickly that none of them has time to deviate it and they fall backward, landing on the ground in a thud.

Rumple is up in an instant, and as Regina stands with slower movements, she hears him and her sister shoot spell after spell at each other.

She shuts her eyes for just a second, gathering her strength, focusing on what she has to do.

That's when it happens.

She can hear Henry's voice in the distance, Roland's too, murmuring words of support and love to her. She can’t tell if this is real or not, until she feels Robin's lips on hers, Emma's hand on her shoulder, Snow's comforting smile appearing behind her shut eyelids. She's not certain of  _what_  exactly is happening, as a small breeze brushes her skin. She seems to be suddenly aware of her surroundings, though her eyes are still closed. Rumple and Zelena are shouting at each other, a bird is singing across the field, murmurs from her friends reach her ears while they're safe and away from the fight, she feels the spell's warmth that flies near her head, her feet sink into the soft ground, the wind play between the trees' leaves.

Even in her deepest moments of concentration, she's never reached that level of focus. A new feeling builds and rises inside her.

_No!_ Not a new feeling! She knows that feeling! A four letter word she barely has time to put a name on when images appear in front of her. She sees Henry, Roland, and Robin, Snow, David and little Neal, her father, Daniel, her mother, TinkerBell, Emma, all caught into a swirl of emotions, the need to protect them, _hold them_ , stronger than ever. Without realizing, her hands are hold straight in front of her, aiming at her sister that she can now locate just by listening to her gritted teeth and frustrated groans.

As Regina opens her eyes, a white light escapes from her newly-healed palms, and strikes Zelena right in the chest, the witch shrieking in surprise, eyes wide with astonishment, not believing what is happening. Regina keeps up the flow of magic, reveling in the sudden power she possesses, and in a second they're all blinded and surrounded by a warm white shining light.

When she finally closes her hands and the light disappears, she faces nothing but a bunch of ashes and a proud Rumple smirking at her. Regina tries to slow down her heavy breath, but as the magic subsides, the exhaustion and tiredness come back at her, and she barely has time to see her former mentor's arm catch her before everything goes dark.

Rumple carefully lays her body on the ground, brushes a strand of hair from her face as everyone rushes to them, Snow asking tentatively. “What happened?”

He slowly turns his head towards them, and smiles.

“ _That_ , was true love's magic at its higher level.” He lets them process the information, as Robin steps forward, kneeling face to him and next to Regina's unconscious body.

“Is she-?”

“No. She simply drained the last bit of magic and energy she had to defeat her sister. Don't worry, she'll be fine. But don't be surprised if she sleeps for days after what she just accomplished.”

Standing up, he lets Robin and David take care of Regina, the archer welcoming her in his arm, lovingly dropping a kiss to her forehead as her head takes place naturally against his shoulder, bumping against it with every step. While they start walking towards the road where the cars are parked, Rumple heads to where Zelena was, looking scornfully at what's left of the witch. He hears footsteps behind him, but doesn't move an inch.

“Is it really over this time?” Emma asks, stopping beside him.

He glances at her, then at Zelena's remains.

“Yes, miss Swan. It's really over.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now... Despite what A&E did, I did not want to see Zelena die in the show, but here I think it was the only way out. I thought of letting her give up on her revenge and leave the town nicely after Rumple's offer, but it wouldn't have made any sense. It'd have been weird if suddenly she changed her mind after everything she did to kill Regina, and no one would have forgiven her for trying to kill Henry and Roland.
> 
> Regarding Regina's light magic and how she and Roland escaped, the explanations will be in the next chapter.
> 
> I promise, this time, no more threat ! No more life threatening situation ! Regina will wake up ! The next chapters will be a closure to this story.
> 
> Oh, and about what is it exactly that happened to Regina when she uses light magic, I just thought of an old show I used to watch (Xena, for those who remember it) and the last episode, when Gabrielle finally succeeds in using all of her abilities. She's connected, opened to everything around her, and that's what I wanted to do here. I'm sorry, it's hard for me to write that kind of scenes, language issue, and I know it's not a really great description.
> 
> Reviews will be greatly appreciated!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know most of you expect updates of my other fics and I swear that I work on them, but in the meantime, for those of you who want to discover (or re-discover) more of this fic, there you go!

He enters the room quietly, a bouquet of red roses in hand. As he reaches her bed, he leans forward, presses his lips to her forehead, murmuring a “Hello, my love!” in his most loving voice. 

 

He drops the fresh flowers on her bed, removes the dead bunch from the vase, fills it with clean water, puts the new bouquet in it and settles it on the tray next to her bed.

 

And then, he pulls a chair closer and sits, taking her hand between his and rubbing it slightly.

 

He's smiling. 

 

This time, the situation is completely different. Zelena is dead - _ really _ dead, there's no new threat to the town, Henry and Roland are safe and sound and recovering from their traumatic experience, and Regina's life is not endangered anymore.

 

She still hasn't woken up yet, but Whale cleared her from any life threatening injury and Gold assured them she only needs time to rest and recover her strength. The main reason she's still in the hospital is to keep her feeded and hydrated. All they have to do now, is wait. But she'll wake up!

 

That's why Robin is relaxed, thumb rubbing the back of her hand, a large smile on his lips, an adoring gaze watching over her. Every day since she passed out 4 days ago, he keeps coming at 9am and stays until Henry, Emma, Snow or someone else take over.

 

But when he’s here, he tells her howl incredibly impatient they all are to see her wide awake. 

 

Roland keeps asking after her, claims that she has to come with them to eat ice creams! 

 

Snow plans a party at Grannys to celebrate the end of this nightmare. And although she very well knows that Regina is not fond of those, she's certain that her step mother won't mind it this time. 

 

Henry requisitioned Emma, Belle and Ruby to clean the mansion from floor to ceiling. They finally discovered where Zelena had hidden all of Regina’s clothes and belongings, including her car, so they're putting everything in order for her return. 

 

And he, asked Gold for a way to leave Storybrooke safely. He wants to organize a trip for the both of them. They don't have to leave now, he assures, because he remembers what she said about not being ready for more yet, and figures she might want to spend time with her boys too. But now, they have all the time they want, and if it takes a year before they can go, so be it.

 

Sometimes, however, he stops talking, simply looks at her. Even in her sleep,  _ especially _ in her sleep, she's beautiful. He watches as her chest moves up and down slowly, regularly, with every breath she takes. He feels her pulse in the crook of her wrist, admires her relaxed features, sometimes brushes a strand of hair away from her forehead.

 

He's still contemplative and lost in his thoughts when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He finds Belle smiling softly at him, and answers in kind, before inviting her to take a seat, and so she does.

 

“How is she?”

 

“No change. I can't even imagine what she's been through and how exhausted she must be, but I can't wait for her to wake up.” he admits, turning his attention back to the sleeping form next to them.

 

“I understand. But Rumple and Whale are categorical. She  _ will _ wake up, there's no doubt about it. Just give her time.”

 

He sends her a small smile, opens his mouth as if about to speak, pauses, then confesses, “She's the strongest woman I've ever met, but with the little we learned about what she did that day, what Henry told us, and everything she’s endured before, I'm still wondering how she found the energy to go through it and survive.”

 

Belle's hand lands on his forearm. 

 

“Rumple explained to me that on that day, Regina fueled her magic not with her anger or resentment toward her sister, but with the love she feels for her friends and family. In a way,  _ you _ , Henry, Roland, Snow and all of the people she loves, you are the reason she fought so hard and won. She could never have accomplished what she did if it wasn't the purest and most honest of loves.”

 

Robin welcomes the information with a slight nod, but his face falls when he replies. “I just wish she didn't have to go through all of this in the first place. If I had gone after her that night at the diner, she wouldn't have-”

 

“Will you stop blaming yourself for that!” comes a hoarse and sleepy but autoritary voice that startles them. 

  
  
They look at Regina and it takes less than a second for Robin to get up and sit by her side on the mattress, while Belle stays discreetly behind him.

 

Her eyes are still closed, so she tries to open them, winces against the bright light and lifts a hand to protect herself from it. Robin cups her cheek, a strangled chuckle escaping him as he feels her lean into it. He hears Belle informing him she'll call Whale, but his attention is already back on Regina. After a few agonizing seconds, he finally meets her brown soft eyes, shining despite her obvious tiredness. And most of all, she smiles at him, with the largest one she can provide after 4 days of uninterrupted sleep.

As for him? He's beaming. His eyes are filled with unshed tears of joy, his heart beating frantically in his chest. He brings her hand to his lips, kisses her palm before leaning it against his chest where his heart lays.

 

“Hey, sleeping beauty!” he whispers. “Welcome back!”

 

She brings her free hand on his cheek, traces the line of his jaw with her forefinger before dropping her arm against the mattress with an exhausted sigh.

 

“Hey!” she replies, clearing her throat to fight the dryness from lack of use.

 

“How do you feel?”

 

She makes what's supposed to be a shrug, her lashes fluttering and fighting to stay open as she speaks.

 

“Better than the last time I woke up here, I guess. How long was I out?”

 

“Four days.”

 

She nods, but doesn't have time to say anything more. Belle comes back with Whale and a nurse, the doctor asking him to wait outside while he checks on his patient. Robin protests a little, then obliges, following Belle in the hallway. The brunette starts calling Emma and Snow to tell them the news and asks them to bring Henry. Meanwhile, Robin paces. But this time, he's not worried. He's just too excited to wait.

 

She's back.

 

She's back, the nightmare is over, and they finally can have their happy ending.

* * *

 

Robin comes back during the afternoon, carrying a very excited Roland in his arms, and finds Regina's room already crowded. He smiles at the sight, happy to see that  _ finally _ , she’s surrounded with the family she deserves.

 

She's sit straight on her bed, Henry by her side, holding her hands. Mary-Margaret is on a chair, softly rocking Neal in her arms. Emma and Hook are standing next to David, and Rumple has joined Belle to welcome his former student back.

 

He catches her smile as she still ignores his presence, engrossed in an animated conversation with her friends about the last days to know what she missed.

 

“Regina!”

 

Roland squirms in his father's arms to be put down, then rushes to her bed. She turns to him, her smile widering, and bends to help him climb on the bed but Emma beats her to it. 

As soon as he's on her lap, he winds his little arms around her neck, and she hugs him back, eyes closed, inhaling softly the sweet scent of the 5 year old. When he pulls back, she faces his big brown eyes shining with the happiness of finally seeing her awake.

 

After what Roland went through, between believing his mother was back and Zelena's trap, Robin went to Gold, asking if there was a way to erase the last two months from his son's memory. Concerned to see Roland clearly anxious, having nightmares and jump at every sound, he decided that it was best if the boy didn't have to deal with the events and went back to his innocent childhood. Robin had been relieved and astonished when Gold offered,  _ on the house _ , to replace the last two months with new memories, in which Marian never happened and Regina had been busy fighting off vilains and got hit in the process, spending the last few days in the hospital. The suddenly relaxed features on his son's face as the spell was complete convinced Robin that he had made the right call.

 

And now, looking at his son happily grinning to a wide awake and smiling Regina, his heart is leaping with joy.

 

“Are you still sick?” Roland asks warily.

 

She chuckles softly, and shakes her head. “No, honey. I'm not sick anymore.”

 

“So we can go eat an ice cream?” he asks hopefully, hands joins in a pleading.

 

She pulls a curl of dark hair behind his ear tenderly, and gives him a sympathetic smile. “Not yet, sweetheart. I'm still very tired, I need to rest for a while.”

 

He frowns almost comically, as if trying to process the information. He looks a bit disappointed though, and Regina doesn't want that, so she adds hurriedly. “But as soon as I'm well-rested, I promise you that we will.”

 

He's beaming then, his eyes and mouth wide with excitement and anticipation. And then, Regina notices Robin, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest, just smiling at the scene in front of him. She cocks her head and winks, beckoning him closer, and he walks to her, drops a kiss to her lips, another one, until Roland's “ _ Ewww! _ ” and Henry's “ _ Mom! _ ” force them to pull back, all the adults in the room chuckling.

 

Robin waves a hand in his son's hair, and turns to face the others. “What were you talking about?”

Regina knows that Roland has lost his memories, that’s why she asks Henry to keep him busy with the Storybook he brought from home, so the little boy won't hear the conversation she knows is coming up.

 

“Just about how everything is quiet since Zelena is gone. I don't have anything to do at the station, I'm starting to get bored.” answers Emma, shrugging.

 

“Well, enjoy it while you can, Miss Swan. It won't last long.” Rumple sneers.

 

“Probably true.” she admits.

 

“About the last events though.” David says, turning towards Regina. “How did you managed to survive the explosion? It destroyed everything around, we thought you were dead.”

 

The dark-haired woman shrugs, stroking Roland's head as he's carefully listening to Henry's explanations about his Storybook, oblivious of what they're saying.

 

“When I managed to free him,” she explains, careful not to mention the kid's name. “I knew that we were running out of time. I was so exhausted that I could barely see straight. So I just ran blindly ahead of me to put as much distance between us and the gasoline canisters as I could, but we'd barely reached the shield when the explosion began. I thought that it was the end, but as Zelena promised, the bracelet opened, releasing my wrist and my powers. I just had time to cast the strongest protection spell I know around us before the blow projected us on the ground. I tried to shield his body with mine, in case I wouldn't be strong enough to keep the spell on. I guess it must have worked, at least for him. All I remember is a burning wave of shock, deep pain, hitting the ground and then waking up with all of you around me.”

 

She smiles at Robin as his hand is stroking her nape gently, and drops a kiss to Roland's forehead. But then, she frowns, and turns her attention to Gold. “By the way, I'm wondering: How did I manage to use such amount of magic against Zelena when I had barely half of my powers back? I wasn’t a match in the Enchanted Forest, yet this time she couldn’t do anything against my magic.”

 

The man smirks at her. “The magic you always used, the powers you developed thanks to your training with me, came from the magic I taught you, from  _ dark _ magic. But what you used against your sister, was your  _ inner _ magic. That's why it took you so much time to recover. It was coming from  _ you _ . From the magic you've always had inside you, dormant and waiting to be used. You just needed a trigger to unlock it. Seems that you found it.” he adds, nodding towards Henry and Roland. “As you can see, Regina, there's more light in yourself than you ever imagined.”

 

“Wait!” Snow suddenly asks. “Are you saying that Regina was born with light magic?”

 

Rumple nods slowly. “Both you and your sister were born with magic.” he explains, turning back towards his former student. “The reason why she was so natural with it, is because hers was  _ dark _ . The reason you had so much difficulties to learn from me at the beginning, was that yours, was  _ light _ . She used her abilities, where you had to change the very nature of who you are.”

 

“So what? They were like the yin and the yang?” Emma comments.

 

“In a manner of speaking, yes.”

“Glinda!” Charming breathes, drawing everyone's attention. In front of their questioning looks, he reminds them the reason why they chose to cast the curse a second time. “She said only a purveyor of the strongest light magic would be able to defeat Zelena. We all thought it was Emma, but Regina, you were able to use light magic twice against your sister, and you won every time.”

 

Everyone drops silent for a few seconds, processing the information. Finally, Regina lifts her head, looking up at her former mentor. “You knew? All those years, you knew what I was able to do?”

 

“Indeed.”

 

“And you never said anything? You turned me into a monster when I could have had another life?”

 

“To be fair, you changed your own fate yourself when you chose hate over love after Daniel's death. I just used that to my advantage. It wasn't in my interest to let you know about the goodness you were carrying, and anyway, would you have believed me back then?” He pauses, and she ducks her head, giving him that point because  _ no _ , she wouldn't have. “And after you started to change for Henry's sake, well, I just figured it was better if you found it out on your own.”

 

“You really are a bastard, you know that, right?” she smirks.

 

“After so much time, I thought that you already figured that out, dearie.” he teases, and they exchange a low chuckle because she understands why he did what he did. 

After the last days events, the last months, after Greg and Tamara, the nearly destruction of the town, Neverland, Pan's curse, the missing year and her sister, she understands more than anyone how far a parent is ready to go for his child.

 

“Thank you.” she breathes finally, looking up at him again. “For helping me out there.”

 

“Well, she did kill my son.” he recalls.

 

She gives him a sympathetic look, then turns to Henry, whose head is down, staring at the sheets. He stopped reading his story when he heard his grandfather's revelation about his mother's destiny. Her hand reaches for his cheek, and he lifts his gaze to meet hers, addresses her a shy smile. He misses his father, and almost lost his mother twice. Emma told her how shaken he's been by this whole story, and they agreed to let him stay with Regina as long as necessary for him to feel secure again.

 

Whale chooses that awkward moment to enter the room, eyes down on a file he's holding, stops to look up at his patient and freezes. Everyone just look at him, silent.

 

“What is it with you people? Can't you read? No more than two visitors at the same time!” he reminds them, showing the sign on the door. “She needs to rest! Come on,  _ hush _ !” he walks towards them, waving his hand in the air to gesture for them to go.

 

They want to protest, but Regina's small yawn stops them from doing so. Snow lays a hand on the cover above her knee, rubs softly.

 

“Call if you need anything!”

 

Regina thanks her, thanks  _ all of them _ , and watches them leave until there's only Henry, Robin, and an almost asleep Roland with her. As the younger boy closes his eyes and settles comfortably against her when she opens her arms up for him, she notices the looks her son and Robin send to Whale, and can't help the corner of her lips to tip up.

 

Whale starts to open his mouth to speak, then raises his hands in surrender. “Okay fine, you can stay. But you better not disturb her!”

 

They both smile widely at each other, and each one reaches for a chair, as Regina settles herself deeper against the cushions, Roland in her arms, and closes her eyes.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are the explanations about the previous chapter. I have no idea how you'll welcome my version of why Regina has light magic, I'm kind of scared actually XD 
> 
> About Regina's light magic... The "yin and yang" theory is purely mine and made up for this story, BUT, the idea of Regina being a purveyor of light magic settled in my mind since S3B and what Charming recalled about Glinda's words. The "darkness snuffing out the light" off Regina in the S4 finale reminded me of that. Because if Emma was the one made of light magic, why the darkness would head straight for Regina? Maybe I got it wrong, I don't know, but no one was able to give me an explanation about it, so... 
> 
> And anyway, I like the idea of Regina being born with light magic much more than what they did on the show :-D
> 
> Coming up : Regina wants to leave the hospital and go back home, but it's not as simple as she thinks.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the long wait. I promise you that I'll try not to take so much time for the last two chapters of this story ;-)

* * *

 

It's been 24 hours, and yes, she still needs to rest, but she can do that at home.

 

She doesn't need to stay at the hospital, where she spent nearly a month, just to be watched over all day. She wants privacy, a soft bed, real food, and a less crowded place.

 

And she tells all that to Victor.

 

To Snow.

 

And to Emma.

 

She's almost yelling and cursing when Robin enters her room, alerted by the sound of her voice that can be heard from the other side of the hallway.

 

“Hey hey hey! What's happening here?” he asks immediately when he enters the room.

 

Regina glances at him, then shakes her head and falls back against the cushions in a loud sigh.

 

“Would you tell those three idiots that I'm perfectly capable to sleep in my own bed?” she groans, thumb and forefinger rubbing her eyes.

 

Robin frowns, gives a confused look to the three other people in the room. Victor is the one answering his silent question.

 

“She wants to go home. I told her she's still too weak to stay on her own, but she won't listen.”

 

“You told me that all I have to do is rest!” Regina snorts, her voice raising as her hand falls flat against the mattress and she glares at him. “I can do that at home, where I won't have a whole bunch of nurses and doctors entering my room every five minutes just to ask me how I feel.”

 

“To be fair, you're spending much more time with your little friends here than with my staff.”

 

“Well, I like the company better.” she snaps.

 

“Okay!” Robin steps in “You two stop that right now!” He hears Regina's frustrated sigh but doesn't comment. “What if…” he pauses for a second, then continues “She goes back home, but not alone.”

 

Four pairs of eyes turn to him in surprise.

“What do you mean?” Snow asks.

 

“I'll stay with her, and make sure she doesn't overtired herself. And if there's anything wrong or if she doesn't listen, I won't hesitate to bring her back here. How does that sound?”

 

Emma raises an eyebrow. “Are you sure you're up to the task? I mean, we're talking about Regina here. And she clearly is back to her old self.”

 

“I can hear you, you know!” Regina reminds with annoyance.

 

Robin places his hand on her arm to calm her, and turns to Emma. “I am. I'll be fine.” he assures with a firm nod.

 

A smile lights up Snow's face. Emma shrugs in agreement. Regina smirks victoriously at Victor. And Victor... Well... After a few seconds, just shakes his head, and gives up.

 

“Fine! I'll get the papers ready.” he mutters before exiting the room.

 

When Robin turns back to see Regina's content face, he gives her a look.

 

“You do know I won't let you do whatever you want, right?” he warns, but she smiles innocently.

 

“I won't have to! _You_ 'll do everything _I_ want for me.” she teases, grabbing his jacket and pulling him down for a thankful kiss.

 

She doesn't let him go, plays with his lips, his tongue, lingers there, until she hears Emma clearing her throat and Snow's small giggle. She barely recedes, keeps her hold on Robin's jacket, and gives them a pointed look while Robin fights to suppress a chuckle.

 

“What? He's the only one who actually supported me here, I'm just thanking him. You have a problem with that, the door is right there.”

 

Emma and Snow exchange a look, and start heading toward the exit.

 

“We'll get everything ready for you when you get home.”

 

“Yeah, you do that!” Regina snorts but she feels Robin’s disapproving look on her. She gazes up at him when they're finally alone, lets go of his jacket and shrugs. “What?”

 

“You know what.” he says softly, sitting on the edge of the bed, taking her hands in his.

She sighs deeply, her shoulders sagging, her features softening.

 

“Robin, I want all this to be over.” she pleads. “I'm getting crazy here! Not to mention it's a constant reminder of everything that happened.” she mutters, looking away.

 

He cups her chin, forcing her to lock their gaze.

 

“Regina, I know things haven't been easy on you.” She looks at him with shock and and a raised eyebrow, so he admits, “That's an understatement.” That has her nodding in approval. “But people are just trying to help you.”

 

“But I'm fine!” she insists, her hands squeezing his for a second and then relaxing. “I'm tired, but fine! I'm done with all this.”

 

He looks at her with concerned eyes, the hand cupping her chin sliding to her neck and stroking.

 

“The nightmares you keep having tell me otherwise, my love.” he points.

 

Regina drops her head, because yes, he's right. She's been having nightmares since the first day she woke up almost four weeks ago, and she keeps having them regularly, almost once a day, mostly during the night, despite her recovery, the presence of her friends and family. She never wants to talk about it, because it's too fresh, too painful, too personal. All they know is that she wakes up trembling, sweating, screaming and crying, and for a few seconds no one can touch her without her jerking back, terror written in her eyes. It's only after a moment, when her racing heartbeat has slowed down, when she realizes she's at the hospital and not in the cellar, that she finally accepts the comfort they offer.

 

They sent Archie to talk to her, and he told them it was normal after what she's been through to keep sequels and be 'traumatized' -although Regina will never agree on that word. She must work on it though, if she didn't want it to become worse. So he kept coming, three times a week, locking the door behind him and forcing her to talk about it.

 

She was reluctant at the beginning, not very inclined to go back in that room and relived the nightmare her sister put her through. But she let go at some point. She realized that she needed to exorcise her fears and anxiety, and since she stubbornly refused to tell her friends what happened to her exactly, she found in Archie an attentive ear, and a comforting friend. Knowing he wouldn't talk about it with anyone else, wouldn't judge, wouldn't comment or open his eyes in horror, and always would come up with the best advices, helped. But four weeks later, the nightmares are still here, and although he said it will take time to get over it, she can't help but dread every moment she closes her eyes.

 

“I just want to move on, Robin.” she whispers.

 

She feels him tug at her hand so she looks up to meet his loving gaze. She feels a bit sheepish right now, ashamed by those dreams, this vulnerability she never let anyone see before. He moves closer to her and tucks her head under his chin, his hand sliding down from her neck to rub her back as he feels her relax against him and sigh.

 

“It will pass.” he assures. “With time, this will only be nothing but a bad memory. In the meantime…” he pulls back just enough to look at her in the eyes. “what do you say we pack all your stuff, so you can finally come home?”

 

Her bright and genuine smile warms his heart, and she breathes a small _okay_ , before he stands up and holds his hand to help her get out of bed.  


David gives them a ride home. Robin is still not acquainted with driving, and Regina has been forbidden from driving for now.

 

Robin helps her get out of the car, his hand resting against her lower back as she enters the yard. She's anxious, and it must show, because she's not quite steady on her legs and her steps are uncertain. He rubs her back with his thumb, and she smiles weakly at him. When her hand finally reaches the doorknob, she pauses, takes a deep breath.

 

She remembers the last time she was there. She remembers the wonderful day she spent with Robin, then Roland, until that fateful moment in the diner. She remembers almost running back home. She remembers feeling alone, and broken, and hopeless. She remembers seeing Marian, and then hitting the wall. She remembers waking up in the darkness, and feeling cold, and wet, and…

 

“Regina?”

 

He startles her, and she steps back but hits the palm of his hand. She snaps out of her painful thoughts, shakes her head, closes her eyes. She feels him pull her against him, and she doesn't fight, buries her head in his chest, fingers gripping his shirt tightly, taking deep breaths to calm the anxiety building up inside her. She hears the door opening and closing and figures it must be David entering her house to give them some privacy.

 

“Do you want to leave?”

 

She doesn't speaks, doesn't look up at him, just shakes her head, breathes in and out again.

 

“Just give me a minute.”

 

“Okay.” he whispers in her hair, holding her close.

 

Regina melts in his embrace, lets the soothing path of his hand on her back calm her tensed body and mind. She stays there for a minute, maybe two, before telling herself she's done with the dread. She needs to confront her fears. So she slowly disentangles herself from his arms, takes a resolute last breath, and looks right into his blue eyes. He nods, and steps aside.

 

When she opens the door, she's welcomed by a storm rushing in her arms, and she almost loses her balance catching her son. Then, she just forgets. She forgets about her apprehension, about what happened here two months ago. When her eyes land on her son, smiling at her with all his love, she can't help but run a hand in his hair, and leans in to kiss his cheek, keeping him close. She looks up to meet Ruby, Emma and Snow, standing in front of the stairs, a bit unsure, as if waiting for a verdict or to see if she's as moody as she was at the hospital earlier. She cocks her head in question, but Henry answers for them.

 

“We took care of the house. We fixed everything, put your clothes in your bedroom, cleaned the house from floor to ceiling. The fridge is full and I promise it's not just pizza and ice-cream.” She chuckles and brings him closer. “And I bought those for you.” he adds, pulling back from her embrace and grabbing the beautiful bouquet resting on the dresser in the corridor.

 

She grins, her smile so wide and bright it reaches her ears. She takes it and brings the flowers to her nose, humming softly and letting out a content sigh. When she opens her eyes, she winds an arm around his shoulders and pulls him in for another hug. “Thank you, Henry.” she whispers in his ear. “They are beautiful.”

 

He settles against her side as they both face the three women in line in front of them and still silent.

 

“You shouldn't have gone into that much trouble.” Regina says.

 

“It was nothing, really.” Ruby assures, hands raised in front of her.

 

“And it was the least we could do.” Emma adds.

 

Regina doesn't comment, understands what she means, and just nods. After all, aside from Henry, they all fell for Zelena's plan. If it wasn't for the boy's persistence and endless faith in her, she'd probably be dead by now.

 

She feels a hand in her lower back, and turns to meet Robin's gaze. He's smiling at her, leans in to kiss her temple, and she can't help feeling safe and home. Something she missed greatly those last two months.

Ruby excuses herself, as Snow and David. They tell her they'll let her enjoy some private time before leaving the house. Regina looks at Robin, and he understands what she's silently asking. Looking at Henry over her shoulder, he calls the boy's name to get his attention.

 

“What do you say we go make dinner for your mother?”

 

Henry frowns, glances between his two mothers, understands that something is going on here and his presence is not wished -especially since it's not dinner time yet, so he agrees, hugs Regina one last time before following Robin in the kitchen.

 

The minute they're alone, an awkward silence settles between the Emma and Regina, but it doesn't last long.

 

“Thank you for letting him stay with me, I really need him here.” Regina confesses.

 

Emma shakes her head, assures her that it's nothing, he needs her too, and they can take their time. She will pick him up and drop him home from school, spend some time with him in between those moments. But she owes Regina this time with Henry. After everything Regina did for him, she finally understood she never wanted to hurt him, only be his mother, and Henry's protective behavior at the hospital proved them he realized it too.

 

“Regina, I know I have my part of responsibilities in what happened, bringing back Marian, Zelena or whatever, but,” She raises a hand to stop Regina from arguing. “if you agree, I'd really like for us to try to be friend. I think it'll be good for Henry, but also for us. You proved yourself more than once, and I…”

 

Regina steps forward, interrupts her for good this time. “I think it's a good idea.”

 

Emma is about to give her another argument, but she suddenly stops at the positive answer, eyes wide, clearly not prepared to have Regina agreeing without a fight. “You do?”

 

Regina nods, not completely comfortable with the subject, arms crossed over her chest, but keeps going anyway because they need to have this conversation. “Yes. We have to stop fighting each other. You and I know none of us will step back, and Henry made it pretty clear that he wants us both in his life. Maybe when he'll feel better, we can try to work out an arrangement?”

 

“That sounds... fine.” In front of Regina’s lack of answer, Emma understands the ice between them is not totally thawed yet, and she steps forward to the door. “I should go. Do you need something? I can bring you Roland if you want.”

 

“No, thank you. John will drop him off before dinner.”

 

When Regina finds herself alone in the hallway, she sighs deeply, but a smile appears on her face. Those last months, even years, may have been a real hell to live, but things are beginning to be better. With everyone.

 

She walks in the kitchen's direction, careful not to make any noise, a tender gaze looking at Henry and Robin, both focused on their task, talking, giving instructions or helping each other, and she leans against the doorframe, watches them work together as they ignore her presence.

 

It feels good, having them here, getting along, being there for her. It feels like she finally has a real family, people who care for her, enjoy spending time for her, want to protect her. Not because they have to, but because they want to. Because they love her.

 

Speaking of being protective…

 

Robin catches sight of her leaning against the door, and smirks, wiping his hands on a towel and walking towards her, Henry's eyes raising from what he's doing to look up at her with the same face.

 

“I think the doctor mentioned resting, my love.”

 

She gives him a look, but leans into his arms when he winds them around her waist.

 

“I'm watching you and my son cook me diner, this is resting for me.” she argues, but he shakes his head, chuckling, forcing her to step back as he takes a few steps forward.

 

“And the reason I'm here is because your definition of resting is different than his.”

 

“Well, he's an ass.” she mutters, understanding Robin will stay true to his words and won't let her do whatever she wants.

 

“Humm…” he murmurs into her ear, kissing her neck as she winds her own arms around his.

 

“Maybe. But you look tired, and diner won't be ready right away. Why don't you lay down a bit?”

 

“Robin…” she pleads, but he'll have none of it.

 

“Regina.” he answers firmly. “I'm pretty sure if we keep you with us in the kitchen, you will start taking things in hand, and overwork yourself.”  


“Did Henry tell you that?” she questions, knowing very well from who Robin holds this information.

 

“He did mention that the kitchen is your sanctuary and when you start cooking there is no stopping you, so _we_ decided that we're not taking any risk.”

 

She raises an eyebrow. “We? You and Henry? You're teaming up against me?”

 

He nods with a mischievous smile, pecks her lips, gives her the remote, and settles her on the sofa.

 

“Relax, my love. We are taking care of everything.” With another kiss to her brow, he leaves her, speechless but smiling.

 

She's not use to be taken care of, even after all this time at the hospital. _Especially_ , after all this time at the hospital. She wants to be herself again, wants to go back to work, drive her son to school, go on a date with Robin, have fun with Roland, snicker at Mary Margaret's annoying endless hope, fight with Emma -because _yes_ , even though they agreed to work together and not against each other, they are who they are and there will be fights. But as she thinks of that, she feels her eyelids becoming heavy, her head falling on the back of the couch as she's curled up at one end of the sofa, and she realizes Robin is right. She is tired, and whether she wants it or not, her body is screaming at her to let go.

 

She's awaken by the ring of the doorbell, and she jumps on the couch, barely makes out Robin's “I'm coming!” in the foggy state she's still in. When she opens her eyes, Henry is knelt in front of her, finishing to settle dinner on the coffee table. He knows very well she never allowed him to eat here, but he smiles at her, and she can't find it in herself to disappoint him. So she tilts her head to the side, beckons for him to join her, and he does, kisses her cheek as she weaves a hand in his hair, whispering a thank you in his ear, just before a very excited little boy runs towards them, his father following him.

Dinner is filled with animated talks and plans for the next days, sleeping arrangements for the boys and promises of ice creams and afternoon in the park whenever she'll be allowed to go.

 

As she takes in the 3 persons around her, Regina's smile has never been deeper and genuine, and she finally begins to think that yes, maybe, despite everything she did in the past, she's finally allowed to be happy.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter gives you the context : End of S3/beginning of S4. So you understood that I’ll rewrite the show as we know it starting from this moment. I hope you’ll like what I did with it.  
> Reviews are much appreciated.


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